And When You Say My Name I'll Be A Memory
by longingparadise
Summary: Shikamaru leaves the village for a mission near Iwagakure when he meets a talented blacksmith apprentice called Naruto. He could swear that he's met the guy before but none of his friends seem to remember him. Feeling that something's amiss, Shikamaru tries to find out who Naruto is and why he seems so familiar. Naruto-left-Konoha-AU (No Banishment). No Romance.
1. Chapter 1

**And When You Say My Name I'll Be A Memory**

 **.**

 **1**

 **.**

It was night and the streets of Konoha were almost completely silent. Shikamaru's steps were light and inconspicuous as he walked through the shortcuts that would lead him to the gates of the village. He knew that he was running late but he couldn't be bothered with hurrying up. In the end, ten minutes wouldn't make any significant difference to the mission he was about to go on.

"Troublesome," he muttered before yawning tiredly. He hated missions that started at night. Shikamaru could sleep at any given time of the day but especially the late hours were meant to spend crawled in a warm, comfortable bed.

Since he'd known that he wouldn't be getting any sleep, he'd taken a nap in the evening and had overslept - hence why he was late.

But eventually, he arrived at the gates where Ino, Choji and Neji were already waiting for him. Asuma-sensei wouldn't be attending. Although it was an officially B-ranked mission, Tsunade told them that they could take it on their own. He knew that she wanted them to become more independent so she could assign the missions in a more flexible way. Shikamaru had told her that this particular mission could use someone older and more experienced but she didn't listen; she rarely did.

It sucked when Asuma couldn't attend because it almost always led to him being appointed as the leader. This time was no different.

"Didn't I tell you to be on time?" Ino asked exasperatedly.

"Yeah, you did," he responded dryly. "If you're ready we can leave now."

Choji nodded. "We checked our supplies while we were waiting for you. If you did, too, we're ready to go."

Neji scoffed, visibly annoyed by his tardiness. Shikamaru asked himself whether the guy had ever been late in his life – probably not.

Before he could attempt to respond they all tensed up when they heard the steps of someone approaching.

"Asuma-sensei!" Ino exclaimed.

Shikamaru relaxed and hoped against all odds that Tsunade might have changed her mind and had sent Asuma-sensei to take part in the mission. It was rather unlikely.

"Hey guys," their teacher mumbled with his lips around another one of his cigarettes.

"Did something happen?" Neji asked. It was obvious that he was anxious to set out. He didn't like it when something didn't go according to schedule.

"No, but I heard that you had a mission in Iwagakure?"

Neji shook his head. "We're only supposed to go until the border. We're not crossing the mountains."

The man sighed. "Thank God. Be careful, you'll never know what these Iwa-nins are up to. I wish I could come with you but I've got a mission coming up first thing tomorrow morning."

"Is there anything else?" Shikamaru asked, sensing that his teacher wanted to tell them something more.

Asuma grinned guiltily and scratched the back of his head. "I wouldn't ask this if I got a mission near Iwa anytime soon but-"

"Spit it out, already!" Choji interrupted good-naturedly.

"Well, my trench knives took a real beating during the training yesterday. The blades have cracked at some places and they're completely blunt. I've got backup knives, of course, but those were my favorite."

Ino raised her brows confusedly. "Can't the blacksmiths in the village repair that? You could also always buy new ones, you know."

"Yeah, but it never takes long for the blades to blunt again. People say that there's a blacksmith who's living before the mountains at the borders to the Waterfalls- and Grass Country and makes blades that don't lose their sharpness over a long course of time."

"We'll check it out," Shikamaru confirmed and took the trench knives that the man offered him.

"You sure?"

"It's no big deal sensei. You shouldn't even have to ask!" exclaimed Choji indignantly.

Neji, who'd already been annoyed about their delayed departure, became impatient. "We are losing time. We have to be punctual. The Iwa-nins will be waiting for us, after all."

Shikamaru had to agree. "Let's get going."

Just as they were about to run off, they heard Asuma call their names for the last time. When they turned around he had lightened up another cigarette. "Stay safe."

Shikamaru nodded. He hated being the group leader.

 **.**

He hated being the group leader because it essentially meant responsibility. With responsibility came work and effort.

He couldn't just laze around like he used to because they weren't given assignments to weed gardens or walk dogs anymore. When they went out for a mission they regularly put their lives at risk and every decision that Shikamaru made influenced the well-being of his team. It was exhausting to perform under that pressure.

"When are we gonna take a break?" Choji interrupted his thoughts. His friend didn't sound tired yet but it often helped to have a clear set goal in mind and not just run for an unclear amount of time.

Shikamaru went through a calculation in his mind. They had to arrive at the meeting point in three days. If they ran the whole way through, they'd easily arrive in two. That's why he could plan a couple of breaks in. But there still had to be a buffer in case they got involved in a fight. It was about 3 am right now and they had been running for about two and a half hours.

"We'll take a rest at dawn," he decided. His team members nodded acceptingly.

He had grown comfortable to work with all of them, especially Ino and Choji. They knew each other since childhood and had fought together ever since they graduated the Academy.

At the beginning he hadn't been able to stand Neji and even that became better with time. The other boy was still too uptight and melodramatic for his taste but there was nothing that could be done about that.  
He knew that Neji hadn't thought of him too highly either. But when he had discovered that Shikamaru was actually able to defend himself and a very talented strategist on top of that, he'd started to respect him.

Shikamaru knew that all three trusted him and it sucked. Oftentimes he craved to slack off and laze around but he couldn't lower his defenses when he was stuck in this position.

He went through his plan again.

The mission's goal was to deliver a scroll to some Iwa-nins that would be awaiting them on their country's borders. Tsunade wanted to establish better dialogue with the Tsuchikage. You could never have too many allies.

Officially, no fights were planned. However, relations with Iwa had never been stellar and it wouldn't be above them to stab Konoha in the back by ambushing them. That's what Neji was here for. He will use his Byakugan to look ahead and find out whether any hidden troops would be awaiting them. It wasn't unlikely since the mountains made for good hiding spots.

"You okay, Shikamaru?" Choji asked. The boy was perceptive and when it came to reading Shikamaru, he was one of the best right after his father and Asuma-sensei.

"Fine." The line between being open towards your team and bringing down their moral through your own qualms was thin. "Just hoping that we won't have to deal with any unnecessary conflict."

"Like bandits?" Ino chimed in.

"They're like bugs," Neji added with a disgusted expression on his face. "Annoying, time-consuming but no real challenge."

Shikamaru knitted his brows skeptically. One of the Hyuuga's biggest weaknesses was his haughtiness. It never was a good idea to underestimate your enemy.

"On another note," the only girl in their group began, "do we know the name of the blacksmith who we're supposed to bring Asuma-sensei's blades to?"

Choji gasped. "Damn. We forgot to ask, didn't we?"

Neji rolled his eyes and sighed. "Great."

"It's not a big problem," Shikamaru appeased them. "There can't be too many blacksmiths on the borders of the Earth-, Waterfalls- and Grass Country; that specific point is not a big area. If we don't find him, we'll just return to Konoha. We wouldn't be losing any time since we'd be passing that way anyway."

The tension in his group members melted away but no one became less alert. You never knew when problems would arise.

 **.**

After two and a half days they had almost arrived at their meeting point. The trip went over without any major complications. Some bandits had attacked but that was supposed to be expected. No one got injured and they didn't lose much time.

Although everyone was well rested, Shikamaru suggested taking another break in Kusagakure before eventually approaching the mountains at the borders of Iwa. It was either waiting here or waiting there and Shikamaru would rather spend as little time as possible near a country that was Konoha's ally only in name.

So they resorted to lazing around near a river for about one hour. He was glad that he could relax but relaxing during a mission wasn't nearly as enjoyable as when he was at home. He was always on edge, waiting for some sort of attack to happen.

But luckily the time passed without any incidents and they set off to their meeting point. They arrived punctually in the early morning, three days after their departure from Konoha.

During that whole time, Neji was searching the area with his Byakugan to make sure that Iwa didn't plan any unwanted surprises for them. Eventually, they arrived without any problems.

Five men were already waiting for them. Judging by their Iwa-headbands, they were the ones that they were supposed to meet.

Shikamaru noticed how their eyes immediately zoned in on Neji whose veins near his temples had bulged under his pale skin. Konoha citizens had gotten used to it but outside the village, the Byakugan remained notorious.

"You've got something for us?" One of them asked.

"Yes," Shikamaru answered in his calm voice. Each of them could feel the tense atmosphere surrounding them. Konoha and Iwa just seemed to clash whenever they confronted. But it was important to keep the situation steady and prevent any sort of escalation.

Slowly, he zipped his vest down and opened one side so his inner pockets were clearly visible. Feeling the other shinobis' eyes on him, he pulled a big scroll out and held it up. "That is it."

One of the men standing in front of them nodded to which Shikamaru threw the scroll into his direction. The guy caught it one-handed and put it into his own vest. "Is that all?"

"Yes."

As soon as Shikamaru had finished speaking, the Iwa-nins ran off. When they finally couldn't be seen anymore, Ino exhaled audibly. "Thank God they're gone. Barely anything happened and I thought we're gonna be in a fight any second."

Choji shook his head incredulously. "It's hard to believe that we're officially at peace with these people."

Shikamaru silently agreed and hoped that whatever dialogue that Tsunade was attempting to start would ease the relations between them.

"Let's get going and see whether we can find that blacksmith that Asuma-sensei has mentioned."

The rest of the team agreed and they set off.

 **.**

In the end, the place that their teacher had told them about wasn't hard to find. They met a few civilians along the way who showed them the directions to whom they called 'Kinzoku'. His smithy was built on the Iwa side of the border, but only barely.

While they approached the little brick-building, Shikamaru contemplated whether they should take their headbands off before entering. Problems could always emerge, especially if the guy was a little older and had experienced the previous wars.

"Take your headbands off," he decided, "We don't want to provoke anything."

After the tense encounter with the Iwa-nins, everyone wordlessly agreed and unbounded their headbands to hide them under their clothes. Neji tied a piece of fabric around his forehead to cover his seal.

When they knocked on the door, an old man wearing a traditional hakama and haori answered. Though his age seemed advanced, he didn't appear frail or sick. "Yes? How can I help you?"

"We're looking for Kinzoku," Ino answered with a polite smile on her face.

The man's eyes lightened up. "Well, that's me. How can I help you?"

"We heard that you were the best blacksmith in the whole country," the girl mentioned charmingly.

The geezer began to laugh, a noise that sounded like a roar. "You heard right! No one can work these blades as good as I can!" He shrugged and grinned mischievously. "Well, I do have an apprentice but that's besides the point. I'm the one who trained him, after all."

Shikamaru refrained from groaning. The man seemed like a troublesome jabberer so he let Ino do the talking. They had enough similarities to get along just fine.

"You're right!" she exclaimed excitedly, "and we desperately need your help."

"Well, then come in!" Kinzoku offered and stepped out of the entrance so they could get in. "So what do you need my help for?"

Shikamaru took it as a sign to take the trench knives out that Asuma-sensei had given him a couple days ago. "They belong to our teacher and they're his favorite. Problem is that it never takes long for the blades to blunt." For good measure he decided to oil the guy up a little further. "He's heard of your amazing abilities and asks whether you could do something about it."

The man laughed again, took the blades out of his hand and put on some glasses to inspect the weapons closely. "That's easily done," he asserted after a short while.

He laid the blades on a wooden table standing nearby and went towards the door that led even further into the house. Before leaving he turned around. "Sit down and make yourself home. I'll be there in a minute."

After they took a look around the room, they sat down on the wooden banks that stood next to the table. The place had been kept simple and clean. The walls and the floor were made out of gray stone; large windows let the light in.

It didn't take Kinzoku long to return but this time someone was following him.

Behind the old man stood a boy their age. Unlike Kinzoku, he wore a simple, blue yukata that made the azure of his eyes shine in an unnatural light. When Shikamaru looked into those them he felt a stab of familiarity in his gut. He knew this guy.

He couldn't pinpoint what it was but the boy just seemed familiar. Shikamaru gazed at the sun-blonde hair that flowed down his back and the fittingly bronzed skin and yet he couldn't decide where he knew him from.

The guy caught him staring and gazed back unabashedly with those deep-set blue eyes of his - those eyes that reminded Shikamaru of something.

"This is my apprentice Naruto," Kinzoku introduced them. What an unusual name.

"Hey," Naruto greeted jovially.

His boss hit him lightly on the head. "Naruto! Be more respectful to our customers."

Shikamaru sensed that the boy was on the verge of rolling his eyes but barely managed to refrain from it. "Welcome," he said formally and bowed slightly to them.

Kinzoku grinned apologetically. "I'm sorry for that. His manners are incorrigible but his talents behind the forge are unheard of."

"No harm done," Choji appeased the man with a smile on his face, ever the peacemaker.

Kinzoku grabbed the blades and showed them to his apprentice. "I'm thinking that two hours will be enough for both of them."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, it will do. I'll get to work." He grabbed the weapons and was about to leave the room when something came over Shikamaru and he asked, "Can I come with you? I've always been interested in that sort of thing."

He could feel the eyes of his teammates piercing into his back because they knew all too well that Shikamaru wasn't interested in much besides playing Shogi and watching the clouds.

Naruto shrugged. "I wouldn't mind."

"Are you sure?" Kinzoku asked. "It's stuffy, hot and dirty there."

"Yeah, I'm sure. When else would I get the opportunity to watch something like this?" he assured, knowing all too well that there were enough blacksmiths to watch in Konoha. But he was interested in this particular one.

"Well, then who am I to oppose, right?" the old man hollered and began to laugh again.

Shikamaru didn't have the time to respond since Naruto was already exiting through the door. He followed the boy down the floor into a sparsely lit room. "Kinzoku wasn't lying when he said that it's stuffy, hot and dirty here."

Naruto grinned, flashing a row of pristinely white teeth. "Still interested in this sort of thing?" he asked cheekily.

"Of course," Shikamaru answered and sat down on a chair that was standing in the corner of the room.

The boy raised his brows as his tied the long, blonde hair that reached the small of his back loosely together. A few shorter strands escaped his grasp and dangled into his face but he didn't seem to mind as he didn't pay them any further attention.

His hair color was unusual, too - an intense yellow that he had rarely, if ever, seen. Naruto didn't seem like someone you'd overlook in a crowd because he involuntarily stuck out through his appearance. But why couldn't Shikamaru remember him then? The more he watched him, the more he believed to have seen him before.

Finally, he decided to be upfront and just ask, "Have we met? I feel like I've seen you before. I'm Shikamaru by the way." He added the last statement in the hopes of ringing a bell in the boy's mind.

But Naruto only shook his head as he tied a thick apron around his waist. "Not that I recall. Never heard of your name before."

Shikamaru didn't let it go. "Maybe I've seen you elsewhere but we never got introduced to each other?"

The boy shrugged before walking towards the corner of the room and lifting a big, heavy bag full of coal up. "I don't know. Could be. I've been at many places."

"Where are you from?"

He shrugged again and avoided to look into Shikamaru's direction. "From everywhere. Like I said, I've been around."

Well, if that wasn't vague.

"I'm gonna start a fire over here so it's gonna get even hotter. You sure you wanna stay?" the blacksmith apprentice asked in an obvious attempt to get rid of him.

"Nah, I can handle the heat." He took his vest off and laid it on the back of his chair. "What're you doing?" he inquired to lighten the mood.

"Wait till the fire's hot enough to let the steel be molded," Naruto responded and put a pair of thick gloves on. "It's gonna take a little while, not too long, though. It'd have to get a lot hotter if I had to deal with katanas or something. But with these shorter blades a lower temperature is better."

"What difference does it make?" Shikamaru didn't really care but talking about this seemed to put Naruto at ease.

"The hotter the steel is, the more moldable it becomes."

The ninja sat back and watched the boy work. "So do you like being a blacksmith?"

Naruto shrugged. "Do you like being a shinobi?"

Nobody had told Naruto that they were shinobi. But although they had hidden their headbands, it was pretty obvious by their weapons and the type of clothes they wore. He chose to let it slide and answer the blacksmith's question.

"No, I hate it," he answered truthfully. "Not everything but most of the time it's pretty annoying."

Naruto laughed and grasped wide, robust pincers to grab Asuma-sensei's blades with. "Then why are you doing it?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "I was born into a ninja family. I have to do it; I've got no choice."

"Family, huh?" Naruto murmured with a sardonic smile on his face and held the blades into the blazing fire in the forge.

"So do you like being a blacksmith?" Shikamaru backtracked.

The boy blew the blonde strands out of his face and shrugged. "It's okay. Useful but a little boring. I'm waiting for Kinzoku to train his other apprentice; can't leave the geezer all alone, after all. There've been others before but they quit before they could really learn anything."

"Why?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and kept on twisting the pincers around. "It's too hot, too dirty, too hard… Always a different excuse."

Finally he pulled the pincers out of the fire and revealed Asuma-sensei's glowing blades. Then, he switched the large tool out in favor of a shorter and handier one and grabbed a heavy-looking hammer with the other hand. The metal clanked loudly when he hit the weapons with it.

"So why do you do it if it's such a bothersome job?" Shikamaru asked between the hits so he could be heard.

Naruto paused the hand that held the hammer and looked at him shortly. "I can stand a lot of heat." He shrugged. "And Kinzoku's a good boss. All these new apprentices don't value that highly enough. I've worked for some pretty bad people."

"What happened?"

"I left. I won't let myself be mistreated." He replaced his pincers with the large ones and held the blades into the fire again. "What about you?" he asked and turned around to look at Shikamaru again. "Ever thought about leaving your village?"

He scoffed. "And become a nuke-nin?" It made him remember Sasuke, the traitor, somebody he never wanted to become. "Please, I've got _some_ morals."

Naruto opened his mouth and closed it again. He'd wanted to say something but he'd refrained from doing so. Instead, he shook his head and watched the fireplace again. "I hope the people you sacrifice yourself for are worth your loyalty."

"They are," the ninja answered with certainty.

Neither of them spoke up again until Naruto finished working the blades about one and a half hours later.

 **.**

When they left he looked at Naruto one last time while his team members kept on thanking Kinzoku for their services. The boy's yukata was dirty with coal smears, some of them even covering his sun-bronzed face.

"Thanks for the work. Will you be here the next time I need to get anything repaired?"

Naruto shrugged. "Depends on when the geezer finally manages to train the other apprentice. But hey, they say you always meet twice in life. "

Shikamaru knitted his brows and shook his head. "Today was the second time," he murmured before he said goodbye to Kinzoku and they finally set off to return to Konoha.

 **.**

 **A/N:** **This is a concept that popped into my head a few days ago and frankly, I've got no idea where I'm going with this. What I** _ **do**_ **know is that this will** _ **not**_ **be a romantic ShikaNaru fanfiction, unlike my other story that's currently still in progress. I guess this thing's future will also depend on the response that I'll get from you guys. So please leave a comment and let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

 **.**

As soon as they were out of hearing range Ino shot him a skeptical look. "Was there something wrong, Shikamaru? You seemed to be wary of that guy. Has he done something suspicious?"

Shikamaru shrugged, still caught deep inside his own head. "No, it's just-" He paused and decided to consider the situation from different perspectives. "Didn't he seem familiar to you?"

"What do you mean, familiar?" Neji chimed in. The Hyuuga's hackles rose as he expectantly listened to what their team leader was about to say. He'd learned to trust Shikamaru's instincts. If you served as a Konoha-ninja for some time, you quickly discovered that it was best to follow a Nara's guidance.

"I can't put my finger on it," Shikamaru murmured, "but it felt like I've met him before."

There was a moment of silence that everyone used to think about his statement and consider whether they knew the blacksmith apprentice.

"What was his name again?" Choji asked.

"Naruto," Shikamaru answered although it hadn't been the boy's name that had rang a bell, but his appearance.

"Don't know, I don't think I've seen him before," his friend mused.

"Me neither," the only girl of their group remarked.

When Neji shook his head, too, Shikamaru shrugged again. "Yeah, maybe I was just imagining it."

He did not just imagine it. If Shikamaru Nara had a hunch, it was for a reason. But he had a mission to focus on and could not allow himself to get distracted any further.

He forgot about Naruto a week later and did not think of him again for a month.

 **.**

Naruto Uzumaki wasn't someone who had any talents to speak of and for that he was grateful. Nothing came easily to him; everything he had ever achieved, he had to work hard for.

He didn't know how he would've survived if everything had been just handed to him. Early on, he'd learned never to expect and not to take anything for granted. Sometimes you'll have nothing but the clothes on your back without anyone to help you out.  
But things had been good that way.

You learned through experience and preserving your life was the biggest motivation a human being could have. Lack of talent forced you to become resilient and disciplined.

Sometimes he asked himself what would've happened if he had chosen to stay in a more secure and comfortable life instead of throwing himself out to the world with only his two feet to stand on.  
It never took him long to pat himself on the back, convinced that he had made the right decision.

Currently, his life was secure and comfortable, too. Kinzoku had given him a roof over his head and a soft mattress to sleep on. It was more than what Naruto was used to having.

He'd like to stay in bed and sleep on said mattress for a little while longer but his internal clock signaled him that it was time to get up. There was no use in wallowing in what-ifs, it wouldn't change what was to come.

Having made his decision, he sat up and put the blanket to the side. He shivered when his bare feet touched the cold wood. Quickly, he stood up to get changed into one of the yukatas that Kinzoku had given him when he'd started working in the smithy.

He hated them because they were impractical and annoying. There wasn't much room for his legs to move so it was difficult to run or even make somewhat big steps. If it was up to him he'd put on a shirt and a pair of pants but Kinzoku insisted on the traditional wear. Naruto knew that it was only for his business to look more authentic.

A drawn out groan that came from the other end of the room, pulled him out of his thoughts. Tawny brown hair and green eyes peeked out of the duvets to watch him groggily. "You already up?" Kinben asked with a scratchy voice.

Naruto gave the fellow apprentice a nod as he brushed through his long, blonde hair and tied it into a high ponytail. A haircut was long due but he was incapable when it came to that. Since he couldn't even trim the ends without the strands becoming uneven and sloppy, he'd let them grow out.

After quickly washing his face in the bathroom, he returned to make his bed. When he was done, he turned to Kinben who was still lying under his blankets with a tired, unfocused look in his eyes.

"I'm going to make some breakfast. Be sure to be in the dining room in half an hour."

"Don't you want any help?"

He shook his head. "No, it's okay. You can doze a little more but make sure to be on time." With that, he left the room.

He wanted to be lenient on Kinben since the boy had only been his roommate for about a month. But although he was weak and tired easily, he tried his best and actually took the work behind the forge serious. Maybe Naruto lucked out and Kinben actually turned out to be a useful apprentice so he could finally attempt to leave the smithy.

It wasn't like he hated staying here. He had a place to sleep, food and Kinzoku, who was a nice and benevolent man, even paid him some money. But it hadn't taken long for him to realize that working as a blacksmith bored him. Naruto wasn't sure whether it was the job or the fact that he had to remain in one place for a long time that made him restless. Maybe he had just gotten used to travelling around.

Nonetheless, if Naruto didn't like something, he left. But he had a bad conscience about leaving the old geezer alone when the man didn't have anyone to help him with his work. Hopefully, Kinben would stick around.

After putting the teakettle on the stove, he opened the fridge to contemplate what they could have for breakfast. He decided on making rice, miso soup and a couple of boiled eggs. If it had only been up to him, he'd have made some instant ramen and would've called it a day but unfortunately Kinzoku wouldn't approve of that. That's why he had to put in a little more effort.

"You should've slept in. It was already pretty late when you finished up yesterday."

Naruto turned around to see his boss standing at the doorsill with his usual haori and hakama on. "It's okay. I would've woken up, anyway."

The man ran a hand through his gray beard and scratched his bald head with the other. "Sleep is important, Naruto. You should learn to get some." Gradually, the man's usual energy seemed to return as he ordered his apprentice around. "Where's Kinben?"

"I let him doze."

Kinzoku nodded. "He should get some rest. He works very hard, too. I think we've found ourselves someone who could stay."

Naruto hummed absentmindedly as he rushed to the screeching teakettle and pulled it off the stove. "Black or green?"

"Black," his boss decided. Then, after a short pause, he added, "Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"You're gonna leave soon, yeah?"

Naruto looked up to see the old man's face and regretted doing it immediately. The geezer wore a sad expression that the apprentice had rarely seen. "Probably," he confirmed although he knew it was more than just a 'probable' option. He was pretty sure in his plans.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I get restless if I don't. I've been here since last year. I can't even remember the last time I spend so much time at one place."

Kinzoku sighed. "Well, you will have to decide on staying at one single place eventually. Just know that my doors are open when that time arrives."

Naruto chuckled. "Getting sentimental with your old age, grandpa?"

The man hit him over the head and grumbled something about being more respectful towards one's elders. After that, they both worked on preparing breakfast together. They were almost finished when Kinben entered the kitchen looking a little distraught.

"S-Sorry for being late." The teen's hair was sticking wildly into all directions and his gray yukata was littered with creases. He'd probably fallen asleep after Naruto had left the bedroom.

"You're on time," Kinzoku assured although he wasn't.

"Kinben, can you carry the plates to the dining room?" Naruto asked with a soft voice. The guy could be a little anxious so he proceeded to treat him with kiddie gloves. When the boy had arrived at the smithy, he'd told them that his parents had been killed by bandits that had attacked his village so it was really no wonder that he was a little skittish.

"By the way," Kinzoku mentioned as they finally sat down at the low, wooden table frame, "what was up with the boy from yesterday?"

"You mean the one who came with the other three and wanted to have his blades repaired?"

His boss nodded. "Yeah, that one. I found it strange that he wanted to see you work."

Naruto shrugged. "He asked some weird questions but that was all. He thought we knew each other or something."

"You probably did, you've been around, after all. Did you ever pass the Land of Fire?"

Naruto froze. "Why are you asking?"

Kinzoku poured himself some black tea. "Because they came from Konoha, obviously."

Suddenly, all appetite left his body. Forcing to keep his voice calm, he asked, "How do you know? They didn't wear any headbands and it's unusual for Konoha's ninjas to pass Iwa's borders."

Kinben, not as oblivious as he seemed at first sight, remained silent and attentively listened to the conversation.

Kinzoku laughed loudly. "You're forgetting that I'm old, brat. With age comes experience. I've seen that sort of team a couple of times, already."

"They've been here before?" No, Naruto thought after contemplating it shortly. At least not during his stay.

Kinzoku put one piece of boiled egg into his mouth and started chewing in an infuriatingly slow pace. "Not them, exactly," he remarked. "But a version of them. I've experienced wars that Konoha was involved in and I've seen that team constellation many times before. A blond with weird eyes, one fat guy and one with dark hair that looks fairly inconspicuous. I might even know which family the fourth guy belonged to"

Naruto's mouth went dry. Ever since _that_ day, he's been trying to avoid Konoha citizens at all costs. He never set any foot into the Land of Fire again and usually steered clear of big cities to minimize the chances of meeting someone that came from his hometown. But maybe this Shikamaru guy had been right and they had met before.

As if having read his thoughts, Kinzoku elaborated, "If he said that he knew you, he was probably right. The third guy in that team constellation is always the smart, observant one." He slurped his miso soup up. "The Nara clan. Not many know of them but if Konoha comes up with good strategies, you can count on that family being behind that."

"Wow, boss," Kinben marveled, "you really do know a lot."

The blacksmith laughed and said something that Naruto didn't hear. The others' voices became white noise.

Damn. When that Shikamaru had told him that he knew him, he'd believed that the boy had simply mixed him up. But after what the old man had just explained, it was likely that the boy really did recognize him, after all. How was that even possible? For one moment he allowed himself to remember Konohagakure.

He'd been six-years-old when he had left that place and the only person he had really known at that time was the Hokage. That was now ten years ago and he barely even remembered the villagers. Most of them were nothing but blurry faces at this point. How could this Shikamaru, who'd seemed to be as old as he was, recognize him?

And what if the boy decided to dug deeper and actually found out who he was? When he'd left Konoha he hadn't actually thought that people would go out of their way to search for him since no one but the Hokage had even liked him. But for some reason they had actually send out search parties for him. That was why Naruto had grown acclaimed to never stay at one place for too long. He was constantly moving and minimizing the chances of Konoha following his tracks.

Not for the first time, he asked himself what these people wanted from him. At first, he'd believed that the Hokage was just trying to get him to return because he'd always been such a friendly, concerned and caring man. But soon he'd realized that the measures used in order to find him were a little extreme. For years many search troops had raided the countries.

A shiver ran down his spine when he reminded himself what they did with ninjas who dared to leave their village. But Naruto wasn't a ninja. Would they still try to kill him?

"Naruto!" He startled when the old man's voice suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts. "Are you deaf, boy?"

"No, boss," he answered a little breathlessly.

Kinzoku made a funny face and shrugged. "You two clean up. I'll go downstairs and start the fire for the forge."

Naruto looked at his plate. He'd barely eaten anything. But it didn't matter; he should learn to get used to irregular eating habits, again.  
At the end of the week, he had to be gone. The worst case scenario was that yesterday's team returned to Konoha in a couple of days where that Shikamaru figured out who he was. If that happened, they'd sent some shinobi out to search for him here.

He had barely a week left before he had to be gone.  
It was unlikely that any of that would happen but he wouldn't risk it.

 **.**

It was night. Naruto looked up and sighed in relief when he noticed that no clouds were covering the dark sky. The moon wasn't full and he'd need any light he could get.

"Do you have everything?"

Naruto turned to his boss and nodded after patting the pockets of his jacket down. The orange one that he liked was in his bag. But for now, he needed to stay low and the dark green clothes were ideal to go unnoticed in the night.

He sighed again. This was going to be hard and that was one of the reasons why he never stayed at one place for too long. You got attached to the people around you and that made it difficult to leave.

"Thanks for everything, boss."

Kinzoku nodded. The wrinkles in his face were even more apparent in the shadows. Or maybe it was the worry that caused the old man's face to look that much older.

"And if anyone asks for me, don't hide anything from them. Don't get yourself in trouble."

The man snorted and shook his head. "Tell me one thing, Naruto. What is it that you're fleeing from?"

He asked himself whether he had something to lose. Everything was pretty obvious by now. "Konoha," he answered truthfully.

"Are you a criminal? You know you can be honest with me," the man said in a grandfatherly tone.

"No," Naruto insisted. "I didn't do anything wrong – not like that. I just left the village and they haven't stopped searching for me ever since! I'm not a ninja so I don't know what they want with me." He shook his head in an exasperated manner.

"Naruto," the old man began and took a deep breath. "I think I know why they're after you."

"What?"

Kinzoku seemed to search for the right words before he met his apprentice's eyes again. "I've told you, I'm old."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "What else is new?"

"Shut up, brat," the old man grumbled half-heartedly. "My point is, I've met many people. When I looked at you for the first time, I confused you with someone else whom I've seen many years ago."

Naruto frowned. In all his sixteen years he hadn't met anyone who'd even slightly resembled him. "Who was it?"

Kinzoku exhaled and answered, "The Yellow Flash."

The boy wrinkled his nose. "Okay? And who is that?"

The veins on the old man's bald scalp protruded in frustration as he hit the boy over the head. "Idiot! Would it kill you to read a history book once in a while?"

Naruto rubbed his throbbing skull in annoyance. "It's not the time for history lessons, old man. Tell me what I need to know."

Kinzoku groaned in exasperation. "The Yellow Flash was Konoha's fourth Hokage."

"Oh," Naruto remarked when realization dawned on him. He had heard stories about the Yondaime before, especially when he'd been little and still living in Konohagakure. They had loved to tell stories about that man. "You mean the guy who defeated the Kyuubi?"

The blacksmith nodded. "I've only ever seen him from afar. But the resemblance between you two is unmistakable."

Naruto frowned. "What are you alluding to, old man?"

His boss looked at him as if he was a special kind of dumb. "Isn't it obvious? You two must be related. There's no other way you'd look so much like each other. Maybe that's why they won't stop looking for you. There are some skills that get passed on through blood only, boy."

Naruto shook his head. "I'm talentless. There's no way that I'm related to that man." What he didn't tell Kinzoku, was that he remembered being treated like shit in Konoha. That was why he left in the first place, after all. He knew how relatives of important people were treated - namely not like shit. Whatever resemblance he had with the Yondaime, it had to be a coincidence.

"You're not talentless, Naruto. I know that you know how to use some ninja techniques. Don't think I didn't notice the clones you produced to make work easier on yourself."

The boy shook his head. "Those are just some tricks that I've picked up here and there, nothing special." He sighed. "Look, it doesn't matter."

"Are you an idiot? Of course, it matters," Kinzoku insisted. "It's the reason these people are looking for you, after all. Maybe they don't want to punish you but only return you to your village."

Naruto scoffed. "Staying in Konoha is enough of a punishment."

His boss sighed, realizing that there was no way to change his apprentice's mind. "Just promise me to take care of yourself."

The boy grinned. "I will. And I will visit you again when the coast is clear to make sure that Kinben hasn't burnt this place down yet."

Kinzoku laughed in his usual noisy way and patted Naruto's head instead of hitting it for a change. He hoped that the boy's soul would eventually find its rest and someplace to call a home.

 **.**

It was one month after when Shikamaru lay on the training ground's grass while Ino, Choji, Sakura and Sai were sparring a few feet away from where Asuma-sensei, Kakashi and he were lingering at.

He was too lazy to get up and participate; he'd rather just watch the scenery. They had a nice view of the Hokage monument. Absorbed in thought, he stared at the stone heads that he had seen more times than he could count.

"Oh," he mumbled, "that's weird."

 **.**

 **A/N** **: Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing on the last chapter! Your comments are the fuel that keeps me going and I really feel like I'm slowly developing a feeling where this story is headed towards.  
But I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, too. How did you like it until now? Any suggestions or criticism that I can take with me? Let me know!**

 **PS: To all the readers of 'I Was Blind Before I Saw the World Through Your Eyes': That story is not abandoned. I'm just working on re-editing the old chapters before I resume on writing:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

 **.**

"Hmm? What do you mean, weird?" Asuma-sensei asked absentmindedly.

Shikamaru watched the Yondaime's giant, rigid expressions that were carved into the hard stone - a man that every child in this village could recognize from various history school books that his face was plastered into. An unusual face it was, one that stood out. Azure-blue eyes framed by sunny-blonde hair.

Shikamaru felt his mind sharpen; every bit of tiredness was suddenly gone. "Do any of you know whether the Yondaime has any living relatives left?"

A minute of tense silence filled the air. A few feet away, kicks and punches were being thrown but they seemed far away, almost isolated from the main event.

"Why do you ask?" Kakashi inquired with a stiff-sounding voice.

Shikamaru was surprised that the man had spoken up. He'd been on plenty of missions with Kakashi before and although the other ninja always remained observant, he made a show of pretending to be as bored and oblivious as possible.

Well, this just got interesting.

"You know, I just thought it was strange how little backstory we have on him. There are so many stories on the other Hokages' families but there's nothing on him."

He had no plans to share his suspicions with the others, at least not yet. There was something going on and he was set out on finding out what it was. Shikamaru loved riddles.  
He could feel Kakashi's piercing stare resting on him and it made this all the more intriguing.

Asuma-sensei laughed awkwardly to disperse the tension hanging in the air. "You notice the most trivial things, Shikamaru."

The boy relaxed and looked up to watch the clouds again. "Those little things add up in the end." Every piece is part of a big picture.

 **.**

He refused to partake in the training until the very end. Tsunade hadn't stopped bothering him with missions for the last months and frankly, he was sick of spending any more time on annoying fights than he already did.

Instead, he let his mind wander, not focusing but letting all sorts of ideas float through his head. Naruto's face was clear in front of his mental eye, as was the Yondaime's.

On his way home, he didn't pay attention to where he was going and only realized that he had taken a wrong turn when the noise of children's laughter disturbed the silence.

He was passing a playground. It had always been a very popular one in Konoha since it was located at such a central place. Shikamaru remembered playing here, too.

Although the sun was about to set, the kids hadn't left yet. For a moment, he watched them climb the monkey bars and play at the slides before he remembered how much longer his way home had become just because he'd been observing the darkening sky.

Usually, he didn't have to pay attention. On every other day, his feet would've led him home because his subconscious sense of direction would've been enough to find the house he'd been living in for sixteen years. But today it had led him past the playground.

He shook his head and started walking.

 **.**

 _Shikamaru was already lying in bed when he remembered it. The book, he'd forgotten it on the playground._

 _Choji had lent him a book on butterflies that had a lot of pretty pictures in it and he'd been interested enough to accept it. This morning, he had taken it with him to the playground to read it there because he didn't like running around with the other kids anyway. In the afternoon, his mother had come to pick him up and somehow he had forgotten about it._

 _He sat up and pulled the blankets to the side. What now? What if someone had taken it while he'd been gone? If the book had been his, he wouldn't be bothered - but it was Choji's._

 _For a short moment, he contemplated waking his mother up and asking her to go to the playground together. Maybe it was still there._

 _But he quickly disposed of that plan when he thought of how disgruntled she'd be about having her sleep disrupted. She was already complaining about him all the time. He couldn't ask his father either since he was out for work._

 _No, he had to get the book on his own. Silently, he left his warm bed and grabbed the jacket that had been lying over the nearby chair. After putting on a pair of shoes and zipping the jacket up, he opened his window and carefully climbed out of the house._

 _When his feet hit the soft grass, he sighed in relief. Now he only had to get out of the compound. He could hear an uncle of his speaking with someone on his porch; the smell of his pipe reached his nose._

 _Quickly, but with great attention to where he was stepping and behind what he was hiding, he walked towards the gates and eventually managed to exit the compound._

 _Shikamaru thought about running in order to reach the playground faster. He wanted to be back soon because the possibility of his mother noticing that he had left scared him. If that happened, he'd be in big trouble._

 _But he was too tired to put even more energy into what he was doing. So he just kept on walking while carefully choosing the paths that were illuminated by many lanterns. Light in the darkness meant shadows. Shadows, he could control - not very well but his father had taught him the basics._

 _It couldn't have taken him any longer than fifteen minutes to reach the green grass surrounding the mid-sized playground. Finally, he wanted to start searching for Choji's book when a creaking sound interrupted the silence of the eerie night. He startled and looked up to see where the noise was coming from._

 _At the other end of the playground, someone was swinging. The kid's feet didn't reach very high, though; his movements were far too listless._

" _What are you doing here?"_

 _The half-hearted swinging came to a halt, feet brushed over the dry sand. Now that he wasn't moving, Shikamaru could see that it was a boy with bright blonde hair. He looked up and met Shikamaru's stare. His eyes were blue._

" _What are_ you _doing here?"_

" _I asked first," the little Nara responded stubbornly._

 _The blonde boy shrugged. "I wanted to swing."_

" _At night?"_

" _Yeah."_

 _Shikamaru raised his eyebrows in a skeptical manner. "Where are your parents?"_

 _Another shrug. "Not here."_

 _He hoped that the boy hadn't got lost. If that was the case, he couldn't just leave him here in the middle of the night. "You can't just go out alone at this time of the day."_

 _The kid raised his brows. "Yeah? Why are you here then?"_

 _Knowing that he had trapped himself with that comment, Shikamaru sighed. He had to hurry up. If anyone noticed that he wasn't in bed he'd be in big trouble. "I forgot a book here today. I came to see whether it was still here."_

 _The boy sluggishly lifted his head to nod over to a nearby tree. When Shikamaru looked into that direction, he spotted the familiar book lying next to the trunk. Feeling lightening relief, he ran over and lifted it up. Thankfully, it was undamaged._

" _Shikamaru."_

 _He startled when he heard that deep, familiar voice calling him. "Father?"_

 _Shikaku Nara was standing near the slide with a tired and annoyed expression on his face. "What the hell are you doing here? Do you know how late it is?"_

 _The man rarely got angry but Shikamaru could see that he was exhausted. He showed him the book. "I forgot it here this afternoon."_

 _His father sighed. "Since when do_ you _care?"_

" _It isn't mine. Choji lent it to me."_

 _Shikaku shook his head. "Let's just get home and hope that your mother doesn't find out."_

 _It was then that Shikamaru remembered the blonde boy who was still sitting on the swing. He was looking on the ground and drawing patterns into the sand with his feet. "What about him? We can't just leave him here."_

 _The ninja turned around and watched the other child with a sad expression on his face. "You're right. Wait here."_

 _The man turned to the trees; stern lines were marring his already scarred face. "How much longer are you gonna wait up there?"_

 _Suddenly, three figures jumped out of the leaves. Anbu, Shikamaru recognized by their masks._

" _What are you even here for if not to look out for this child?" The young Nara noticed that his father was trying to keep his voice down but he was apparently too angry to do so._

" _We were ordered to protect him. He wasn't in any danger," one of the figures responded. She sounded monotone but Shikamaru could feel the insecurity in her words. His father was an important man, after all._

" _Are you trying to tell me that it is harmless for a five-year-old to walk the streets alone past midnight?"_

 _The woman wanted to object but Shikaku didn't give her any opportunity to do so. "Return him home immediately and make sure he's safe."_

 _When the Anbu nodded in acceptance, his father turned to him._

"Shikamaru!"

 **.**

"Shikamaru!"

His eyes were wide open; he was lying under warm blankets. Light flooded his bedroom when his mother pulled the curtains to the side. "Shikamaru, are you okay?"

She sat down at the side of his mattress and touched his forehead with her palm. "Are you sick?" she asked with a rarely seen concerned expression on her face.

"No," he answered a little breathlessly, "just a dream."

"Nightmare?"

"No, it's nothing."

She sighed and stood up. "Get ready then. I made breakfast."

After she had left, he lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. His dream, it had been a memory from many years ago. He had long forgotten that particular night. How old had he been back then? Five? Six?

It had only remained on his mind as the night he had sneaked out and returned without his mother ever finding out. The boy on the playground, he had completely forgotten.

But the dream had reminded him of blue eyes and blonde hair, the same shades that Naruto and the Yondaime had.

He groaned and massaged his temples, trying to alleviate an upcoming headache. Maybe it was all just a coincidence. Three people looked alike, so what? Maybe it was all just a huge mix-up. If Naruto had lived here, if he had been a kid their age that had played on the playground with them, surely Ino, Choji or Neji would've recognized him as well. The familiarity that Shikamaru had felt when he'd met the blacksmith apprentice could stem from some subconscious part of his mind confusing those three faces.

He shook his head and sat up. Maybe he was just overthinking this. Not everything was always that difficult. No matter how much he contemplated this, he wouldn't find a solution if the problem didn't really exist.

With that conclusion, he got up and got dressed before joining his parents at breakfast. It was a warm, sunny day and Shikamaru was finally able to relax until the sound of knocking on the door disrupted his parents' morning banter.

"Are you expecting someone?" Shikaku asked.

His mother shook her head and stood up to leave the room only to return in a matter of minutes. "Shikamaru, he's asking for you."

He stood up and carried his plate to the sink. He'd been finished anyway. "Who is it?"

"Kakashi Hatake," she answered with her eyebrows raised high in confusion.

Surprised by her response, he frowned. "Are you sure?"

His mother sat down at the table again and rolled her eyes. "You mean because there's someone else in this village who looks and dresses just like him? Yeah, it's him."

"You got a mission coming up?" his father chimed in.

"Not that I know of," Shikamaru supplied. And that was the weird thing. The only times he was around Kakashi was on missions or when some other sort of group activity planned. "Is he waiting on the porch?"

When his mother nodded, he walked out of the dining room and towards the entrance. He opened the front door that had been left ajar and spotted Kakashi leaning against the wooden railing of their terrace.

"Good morning," the older man greeted. "Had a nice breakfast?"

"I did," Shikamaru confirmed. "How about you?" He hated this sort of needless small talk but he didn't know what else to do with the guy.

Kakashi shrugged. "Y'know, like always."

"Informative as usual," Shikamaru remarked drily.

"Listen, I've got something to talk about with you," the man explained in an uncomfortable but determined tone of voice. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

"What is it?"

He could hear Kakashi take a deep breath under his mask as the sole, visible eye focused in on Shikamaru. "Yesterday when we were at the training ground, you mentioned something about the Yondaime."

The boy shook his head. "It was nothing honestly. Just something that passed my mind."

The man squinted in concentration. "But there was something you wanted to say. What was it?"

Shikamaru sighed. Although he'd been able to convince himself this morning that he had seen something that probably hadn't been there in the first place, Kakashi seemed to be intent on not letting the matter go. "I just wondered about his family because I recently saw someone that looked just like him."

He expected the man to relax upon realizing that the whole thing wasn't a huge issue. Instead, Kakashi grabbed both of his shoulders and stared into his eyes with overwhelming intensity. "Who was it? Who did you meet that looked like him?"

Shikamaru tried to shrug his grip off but the man's hands were as firm as iron. "I don't know who he was exactly," he explained warily. "What is up with you?"

But the man didn't seem to hear him. "What did he look like? Where did you meet him?"

Seeing no other option to end this conversation, Shikamaru decided to lay out what he had experienced. "Long, blonde hair and blue eyes – like the Yondaime. That's why I found it weird. I don't know, he just resembled him. I've met him when I went out for a mission near Iwagakure a month ago."

He could feel Kakashi's fingers that were still gripping his shoulders tremble against his skin in excitement. "What was his name? Do you know it?"

"Naruto."

The ninja's hands slackened. There was one single moment that the man used to relax. In the next, all tension returned with even more fervor. He tore the house door open. "Shikaku!" he called. "Hurry up, we have to go to the Hokage!"

Shikamaru was left standing on the porch in utter confusion. What the hell.

It took mere seconds for his father to arrive at the doorsill. "Kakashi? What's going on?"

But Kakashi just shook his head as if they had no time. No time for what? "We have to inform the Hokage immediately. He found him, Shikaku, your son found Naruto!"

His father's eyes widened in realization. They both knew something that Shikamaru didn't and it was starting to get annoying. He hoped that one of them would elaborate eventually but instead, Shikaku nodded in acceptance. "Let's get going."

Great, he'd planned on spending his day doing anything close to nothing. "Me, too?"

"Especially, you," Kakashi answered in a tone that bore no room for discussion.

When both he and his father jumped on the next house's roof and began to run at a fast pace, he had no other choice but follow suit.

Damn it, he wished he'd never noticed anything about this Naruto, at all. However, it seemed like his suspicions about the boy had been somewhat founded at least. Naruto appeared to have some sort of connection to Konoha. But had the boy seemed familiar to him because he resembled the Yondaime or because he _had_ met him in person, after all? Was he the kid on the playground from so many years ago?

In a short amount of time, they arrived at the Hokage tower. Shikamaru had never entered it through the window before but he had nothing left to do but follow Kakashi's guidance. Thankfully, no one but Tsunade was in the office but she still appeared to be disgruntled about their sudden emergence.

Before she could attempt to comment on it, Kakashi strode over to her desk and beat her to it. "He was seen again. We have to go out and search for him."

All anger disappeared from her face as the woman leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Let's be clear: We're talking about Naruto, right?"

"Right."

Not for the first time, Shikamaru asked himself who this guy was. But unlike the previous times, when no one but him seemed to be familiar with the blacksmith apprentice, everyone suddenly seemed to know him.

"So what's the story?" Tsunade asked eagerly. "Where was he seen?"

Kakashi turned around and nodded over to where he was standing. "Shikamaru was the one who's spotted him."

All eyes zoned in on him. A feeling of discomfort swept over the young ninja as it dawned on him that whatever was about to come, would surely be immensely troublesome. Just as he wondered what he had gotten himself into, Tsunade disrupted the short silence and motioned for him to come closer.

"Sit down, Shikamaru. Tell us exactly when and where you've met him."

"Don't leave anything out," his father added. "The littlest details can be important."

The boy groaned in annoyance before sitting down on one of the chairs that were standing across the Hokage's desk. He allowed himself to massage his aching temples before he slumped into his seat.

"There isn't all that much to tell, really. I met a guy named Naruto at a smithy when we went on a mission near the Iwa border one month ago."

Tsunade squinted her eyes as she tried to remember what mission he was referring to. "You mean the scroll delivery with Ino, Choji and Neji?"

"You let them go on a mission in Iwa alone?" Shikamaru didn't remember hearing Kakashi being that angry before. The man had perfected the act of indifference. Whatever was going on seemed to affect him deeply.

He could feel that his father and the Hokage were agitated as well but neither of them lost their calm.

"Oh please, Kakashi. Don't tell me how to do my job," Tsunade responded curtly.

"If you had let anyone who's a little more experienced than those four kids go on that mission that wasn't meant for children anyway, they would've recognized Naruto immediately."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had always gotten the feeling that Kakashi had somewhat of a childish streak but he had never seemed unreasonable before.

"It doesn't matter," his father butted in. "What's done is done. We can't change that."

It was obvious that Tsunade wanted to continue that argument, she was a petty person in her own right, but she pulled herself together and turned to Shikamaru once again.

"Are you sure that it was him?"

He groaned in exasperation. "How the hell should I know? Who are you even talking about?"

Tsunade rolled her chair back and stood up. In a fast pace, she strode over to the messily organized shelves and pulled a folder out of the disheveled piles. Seeming to have found what she'd been looking for, she returned and sat down and the chair next to Shikamaru's.

"Here," she said, offering him an old, frayed photo depicting a little child with a tentative smile on his face.

When Shikamaru looked at it, he remembered his dream again – dark skies, the playground and a lonely boy on the swing. It was the kid in the photo, he realized. There was no doubt about it now that he had a clear picture of him right in front of his eyes. It was also the teenage blacksmith apprentice whom he had met a month ago. Sure, he'd been a lot older, but it was the same face, the same hair and the same eyes from his memories.

"That's him," he confirmed. "That's the guy I've met. Older, fifteen or sixteen maybe, but it's him."

Tsunade nodded; an eager and predatory grin spreading over her face. He could practically feel the excitement oozing off of her. "Where exactly did you see him?"

Shikamaru took a deep breath and started to explain. "At the point where the borders of the Earth-, Waterfalls- and Grass Country cross, there's a blacksmith he was working for. The blacksmith was an old man named Kinzoku. We originally went there because Asuma-sensei wanted to have his blades repaired by him."

"Did you tell them that you're from Konoha?" his father inquired.

Shikamaru shook his head. "No. We even took our headbands off beforehand."

Kakashi sighed in relief but the tension didn't leave the man's body. "Maybe he's still there then," he murmured. The other two adults appeared to mull over that statement.

"Was there anything else you've noticed about him?" Shikaku asked.

The son shrugged. "He seemed familiar from the get-go but I couldn't put my finger on it. I talked to him for a little bit, asked him whether we had met before but he didn't remember me."

"If that's true we could have an advantage over him," his father reasoned.

Although Shikamaru would've liked to know why they were searching for the guy in the first place, he had no desire to get even more involved with this mess. Today was his free day, damn it. He was supposed to sleep somewhere where the sun didn't blind him and there wasn't any noise to bother him.

"We shouldn't lose any more time then," Kakashi argued. "It's already been a month ever since Shikamaru's seen him."

The Hokage nodded. "I'm going to assemble a team of all available-"

"No," Kakashi interrupted. "Big teams make a mess. We have to be as inconspicuous as possible. I've tried to capture him many times before and I've learned that the littlest signs set him off. He's as slippery as an eel. A three-man-team is our best bet at finally getting to him."

Tsunade turned to his father who was scratching his beard in deep thought. "What do you say, Shikaku?"

Shikamaru could deduct easily enough why she was asking the man for his input. Evidently, they've been trying to find Naruto for some time now, probably before Tsunade had even returned to Konoha. If that was the case, then his father would have much more experience concerning this issue than she did. He had advised the Sandaime for years, after all.

"Kakashi's right," the head of the Naras confirmed. "We've played this game before. It's better to stay low when searching for him. We don't need the force of many fighters to defeat him. It isn't violence that I'm worried about but his cunningness."

The Hokage sighed. "Very well. Kakashi, I'm guessing you'll be going on this mission no matter what I say?"

"You'd be correct."

"It's for the best," Shikaku placated her. "He's got experience and his dogs can recognize his scent when they smell it."

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled. "Okay, so we've got Kakashi, Shikamaru and-"

"What?" the teen interrupted. He really, really didn't want to be bothered with a mission today. Tsunade has been working him to death lately and he was tired of it. "You should send shinobi who have more experience in tracking him down."

His father chuckled. "I'm sorry, son but there's absolutely no way that you won't be attending."

Shikamaru groaned in defeat while Tsunade looked through some notes on her desk. "Asuma's in the village. I will send him with you. Is that okay?"

Everyone in the room agreed.

"Is anyone planning on filling me in anytime soon?" Shikamaru asked while rolling his eyes. He still had no idea why they were even searching for Naruto.

"You'll learn what you need to know once we set off," Kakashi responded. "And this time, we're going to get him."

 **.**

 **A/N:** **So this is it for now! Thanks to all of you who have commented on the last chapter, your reviews are encouraging me to keep on writing:)**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

 **.**

"Aren't you curious?" Asuma mumbled with his lips fixed around one of his cigarettes.

Shikamaru gazed into the flickering fire that separated him from his teacher. Since they were still in the Land of Fire, they could afford travelling a little more conspicuous than they normally would. Without taking his eyes off the flames, he answered, "Of course, I am. But if I can only satisfy my curiosity by working on my free days, I'll pass."

The smell of tobacco reached his nose when the man exhaled with a deep sigh. His sensei lifted his head to watch the other jonin who seemed to be reading one of his porn books while sitting on the high branches of a sturdy tree. Ever since they left the village, Kakashi appeared to be even more contemplative than usual. Shikamaru doubted that he was actually reading what he was staring at.

"Well," Asuma responded, "you've got enough information for this not to be a proper secret anyway. I might as well divulge in the rest, too. It could be beneficial to look at this situation with an unbiased pair of eyes. Fresh perspectives and all of that."

Knowing that he was already too involved to escape this matter at this point, Shikamaru decided to humor his teacher. "That guy at the smithy and the Yondaime are related, right?" It only made sense. Kakashi had reacted the way he did upon hearing that Naruto had resembled the deceased Hokage.

Asuma nodded. "He's the son." Careful to keep his voice down, he continued, "That's why Kakashi's so affected. The Yondaime was his sensei and they were very close. He feels responsible for his teacher's son."

Briefly, Shikamaru asked himself how he'd react if Asuma died and left a kid behind. It wasn't a prospect he wanted to consider. Even if he wouldn't admit it, his teacher was one of the people that meant the most to him. The man just understood Shikamaru so easily and had some sort of unwavering faith in him. Him dying – No. He didn't even want to think about it.  
But he understood Kakashi a little better now.

When the man didn't receive a response, he continued, "The kid left the village when he was six. Later investigations showed that he had climbed onto a merchant's carriage and hid under a pile of hay to flee with everyone being none the wiser."

Shikamaru grinned at the simplistic, childish, yet effective method. "And you haven't been able to find him ever since?"

Asuma chuckled and scratched his beard in an embarrassed manner. "Kid's slippery. We've come close many times but we haven't been able to retrieve him yet."

Shikamaru couldn't repress snickering any longer. It was just so goddamn funny. "A troop of elite ninjas hasn't been able to get a hold of a little brat?"

"He's resourceful," a monotone voice commented from behind him. Kakashi had left his tree in complete silence and was no standing in close distance to the campfire. The man sat down at the open space between Shikamaru and Asuma. "We've tracked him down six times before. Today is the seventh time."

His teacher relaxed and slouched towards the heat of the flames. "You don't seem as energetic as you were in the early morning, Kakashi. Did something happen?"

The other man didn't move. It was difficult to gauge him on a normal day but he seemed even more closed off now. The look in his sole eye was unfocused and empty. "I let the excitement of having another clue affect me. Doesn't happen too often that we get those, after all. But I had time to think about it."

"And?" Asuma baited.

"I don't think he's still there." Finally, he broke out of his stupor and lifted his gaze from the fire to look at Shikamaru. "Talking with you must've set him off," he theorized. It didn't sound like an accusation, just like a mere stating of facts. The man shrugged and turned towards Asuma. "You know how quick he is."

When his sensei nodded, Shikamaru realized that he must've gone on a couple of these missions, too. It was a little unusual since the man's specialties lay in combat rather than in tracking. As far as he had understood, the actual problem didn't lie in beating a violent Naruto but in even getting a hold of him.

"Why did he leave in the first place?" the teen asked. That, after all, was the key to finding Naruto. If they could understand why he was fleeing, they might be able to plan ahead.

His teacher shrugged. "He was a lonely orphan – a little kid. Who knows what he was thinking at that time?"

Shikamaru sighed dismissively. He didn't like to be taken for a fool, not even by his teacher. Asuma raised his brows in faux-innocence, as if not understanding why Shikamaru didn't just accept his answer.

"You're a good liar, sensei. But that doesn't help you much when your lie doesn't make any goddamn sense."

Having drawn his conclusions, the boy stood up and cracked the tense bones in his body. "I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me when it's time for my watch."

He didn't need to know what was going on. It was obvious that there was more behind the scenes than what he was being told. Someone didn't just run away and commit themselves to a life full of inconsistencies because of no reason. There was a secret that they were unwilling to tell him.

Fine. The life of a shinobi was full of secrecy and misconceptions. Naruto was just one of many riddles.

 **.**

Kakashi had been right and in retrospect, it was no big surprise. One didn't escape the hold of a bunch of elite ninjas for such a long time without being somewhat careful.

"Hmm… And he didn't tell you where he was going?" Asuma-sensei asked thoughtfully.

Kinzoku shook his head apologetically. "No. But he let me know months ago that he was planning on leaving. The boy was talented but he didn't like the job."

The old man sounded sincere but it was always possible that he was just a very good liar. Then again, why would've Naruto told his boss where he was going? The fact that he'd chosen to leave his current life behind when he'd told Shikamaru that he'd wait for his boss to train another apprentice, supported their theory that he'd become suspicious and took flight in fear of their arrival.

"Do you remember the date of his departure?" Kakashi inquired with a steady voice.

Although the man often pretended that serenity was all that he consisted of, Shikamaru knew that the other ninja possessed a frightening intensity. But it wouldn't do any good to let things get out of control. This close to the Iwa border they had to tread carefully.

If the old man perceived the tense atmosphere, he didn't let it show. With a friendly smile, he responded, "I think it was three weeks ago."

Damn. That meant that even Kakashi's dogs wouldn't be able to pick up a scent. Too much time had passed. When both Asuma and Kakashi decided to interrogate the old blacksmith even further, Shikamaru opted to exit the smithy and search for any further clues outside.

He sighed when he closed the door behind him and breathed in the evening's cool air. Although this essentially meant that they'd be failing this mission, he couldn't say that he wasn't glad about returning home so soon.

"Who are you?" a tentative voice asked from close distance. Just around the corner of the smithy stood a boy a couple years younger than him wearing a beige yukata and carrying a bag of groceries.

Shikamaru noticed how the boy's green eyes focused on his Konoha headband that was tied around his arm. Even though they stood a couple of feet apart, he didn't miss the way his hands trembled against the paper bag he was holding. "Who're you?" he countered.

Ignoring his question, the kid asked, "What are you here for?"

Figuring that one of them had to acknowledge the other in order for them to progress, Shikamaru decided to respond. "We're looking for Naruto," he stated as if he was actually familiar with their target. "Have you seen him?"

The boy scoffed. "Why should I tell you anything?"

Another ninja might've answered that he should blow the whistle if he didn't want to end up with a few broken limbs but Shikamaru was nothing if not a believer in strategies. He had already evaluated the light yukata that the boy wore, the same kind that Naruto had worn three weeks ago.

"You're Kinzoku's other apprentice, right? Naruto has told me about you," Shikamaru mentioned off-handedly. Well, Naruto had explained that he was planning on leaving the smithy as soon as his boss finished training his other apprentice. Judging the kid's appearance and the fact that he'd been heading towards this building, it was clear that he was said other apprentice.

Apparently, he'd caught the teen off-guard. "What? Naruto's told you about me?"

"Why so surprised?"

The boy shrugged and cautiously approached him. "He's always been so distant. I didn't think that he cared enough to mention me to someone."

Shikamaru stuck his hands into his pants pockets and lifted the corners of his mouth into a slight smile. The kid was on the hook. Now it was important to come off as unthreatening as possible and pull the fish in. "Well, he couldn't have thought too ill of you. He's explained that he wanted to leave the smithy behind because he was convinced that you could assist Kinzoku well enough."

Green eyes widened in surprise. "Really?" he gasped. "I've always believed that he thought I was some weakling."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, apparently not." Inwardly, he sighed. Asuma or even Kakashi would be so much better at this but he had to play with what he got. At least the boy seemed naive enough for him not to get too suspicious.

But he had to get a little more personal for the boy to trust him. "I'm Shikamaru, by the way. What's your name?"

"Kinben," the kid answered and looked at his headband again. "So Boss was right about you. You really are from Konoha."

"Your boss talked about me?" He didn't remember giving the old man his name.

Kinben shrugged. "The Boss knows a lot. Naruto mentioned that the guy who wanted to have something repaired was a Shikamaru Nara. That's you, right?"

Shikamaru nodded. So the old man really wasn't as aloof as he pretended to be. "When I met Naruto, I felt as if I knew him," he explained. "And when I returned to the village, I finally remembered why he was seemed so familiar."

"Is Naruto from Konohagakure, too?" Kinben asked curiously.

"Yes," the older teen confirmed with a wistful smile on his face. "We used to play on the playground together. It's a village, you know? Everyone knows each other." He hoped he wasn't laying on too thick. But since the kid's wide, emotional eyes told Shikamaru that he was buying it, the ninja continued to unpack the sob-story of half-truths and lies even further.

He motioned towards the window. "You see the guy with the mask?"

Kinben peeked into the room where Asuma and Kakashi were still talking with Kinzoku. "The one with the gray hair?"

Shikamaru nodded. "The guy's in his twenties but they say that he's aged prematurely after his nephew and his only relative has disappeared." After a pause in favor of causing a dramatic effect, he added, "That was Naruto."

A decent human being probably would've felt a little bad about using a young teen's naiveté for their own advantage. But Shikamaru Nara was a ninja and a ninja's morals were somewhat questionable to begin with. How couldn't they be when leading people into misconception was practically their job description?

Kinben's face fell; the unguarded face mirrored his sadness. "Why doesn't he return to Konoha if he has people waiting for him?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "That's what we'd like to know, too. We just want him to return home. He has people waiting for him back in the village."

The boy nodded thoughtfully. "I wish I could help," he retorted. "But I haven't known him for long. When I came to the smithy, he only stayed for a week when Boss sent him off to take a vacation because he was such a hard worker."

 _Bingo_. "He left to take a vacation? Do you know where he went?"

Kinben shook his head. "No. He only said that he visited a friend. Must've been fun because he seemed very happy and relaxed when he returned. But he didn't talk all that much about himself. Naruto was a closed-off guy."

Careful not to seem too eager, he asked, "Did anything stick out to you?"

The boy scratched his head as they both fell into silence. Hesitantly, Kinben looked in his eyes again. "I don't really remember," he admitted apologetically. "But he had a cold when he returned and kept on complaining about the constant rain." The teen giggled. "It was kinda weird."

Shikamaru processed the information but didn't wait too long to continue his interrogation. He might not get another chance if Kinzoku exited the building. The man didn't seem nearly as naive as Kinben. "Why weird?"

The apprentice shrugged. "Because he had such a dark tan."

It was the last bit of information that Shikamaru had needed to come to a conclusion. Now he had to make sure that it was the only possible result. "Do you remember how long he was he gone?"

"Two weeks," Kinben responded. "That was about two months ago."

It was convenient that the door opened in that moment and let Asuma, Kakashi and the old blacksmith exit the building. His teacher briefly regarded the young boy standing next to him before focusing on Shikamaru. "We're leaving."

The Nara nodded. After thanking both Kinzoku and Kinben for their time, he turned towards the two men who had already started walking towards the Grass country's borders. When he caught up with them, he asked, "Where're we going?"

"Home," Kakashi responded.

"The blacksmith didn't budge. Maybe he really didn't know anything or he was just a very good liar. Regardless, it wouldn't be good to cause a ruckus this close to Iwa," Asuma-sensei added.

The other man shook his head. "I can't imagine either of them knowing anything. Naruto didn't escape our grasp for all these years by telling people stories about himself. He's secretive."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Of course, he wouldn't do that consciously. But everything he does inevitably leaves a mark."

He could feel both men's eyes focus on him. Apprehensively, Asuma lightened up another cigarette and took a deep drag. After letting the nicotine he had gotten addicted to flood his lungs and subside his restlessness, he exhaled and spoke up again. "Did you find something out, Shikamaru?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Just a few little things."

Asuma grinned and let something akin to pride shine through his features. "Those little things that add up in the end?"

Shikamaru couldn't help grinning back. He wasn't a kid anymore and maybe he should stop seeking his teacher's approval. Still, it felt good to know that he had made his mentor proud.

"For the record, I'm not completely sure of this idea. It relies on various theories that aren't exactly foolproof on their own regard."

Asuma rolled his eyes. "Just spit it out, kid."

"I think he's got a friend who's helping him."

Kakashi's squinted eye was the only sign that the man was frowning under his mask. "Are you sure? We were previously under the impression that he was operating in solitary."

Shikamaru nodded. "The boy I was talking with earlier was the blacksmith's other apprentice. He's told me that Naruto left to take a vacation at a friend's place."

"How would be able to find that person? They could be living anywhere," Asuma argued.

"He visited his friend two months ago and returned with a cold complaining about the constant rain. It was winter at that time. There was only one place in close distance where it was raining constantly," the young ninja explained.

"A place where it is always raining constantly," Kakashi deducted. "Amegakure."

"Or at least some part of the Rain country," Shikamaru clarified. "The number of places he could've gone to is limited considering that he was away for only two weeks. He passed the Land of Rain on his way back to the smithy but had a tan when he returned. Evidently, he spent his time somewhere where the sun was shining, I repeat, in the winter."

Asuma's teeth locked around the cigarette so it wouldn't fall down when his face broke into a wide grin. "A place where the sun is shining every day."

 **.**

His steps were light and almost didn't leave an imprint on the sand he was walking on. With time he had gotten used to operating this unobtrusively. It wasn't something he had been used to doing. It had never been necessary for him to cover his presence because he didn't hide from or avoid obstacles, he annihilated them.

But this wasn't about him.

He didn't stop when he reached his goal but proceeded to keep on walking, flowing like water through the human masses.

His friend usually felt more comfortable residing in mid-sized hotels but this time it had been important to choose a heavily occupied place to prevent sticking out in the crowd.

He didn't have to ask at the reception what room his friend was residing in. He wouldn't have given them his real name anyway. No, he only needed his senses to feel where his friend was. After all, they both had some things in common that made it easy to keep track of him when they were this close to each other.

When he found the door he was looking for, he knocked two times before whispering, "It's me."

After three seconds of silence, the door opened only a crack. It was enough for the blue eyes to take a peek at him.

"What took you so long, Gaara?"

 **.**

 **A/N:** **Thank you guys for reading this chapter and taking the time to comment on the last one! I appreciate everyone who lets me know what they think about my story so far:) I took all your suggestions into consideration.**

 **I know I'm updating a little later than usual but I spent last week outlining and planning details about this plot. I'm now finished laying out the backstory (how Naruto left, what he did when he was gone etc.).**

 **Also, I know I've created some OCs (Kinzoku, Kinben) but these characters are needed to advance the plot. They will not 'take over' the story or anything.**

 **I don't know when the next chapter will be up (for some reason I've got a knack for coming up with story ideas when I'm in the middle of my exams) but I'll try my best.**

 **Please let me know what you thought of this one:)**


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

 **.**

"I could ask you the same thing," Gaara answered and closed the door behind him. The room was in disarray. Sheets, clothes and scrolls were in different states of derangement and wildly casted into opposite directions. Nothing too unusual.

He tilted the windows, careful not to touch the blinders, to let some fresh air into the dark, stuffy room. "Why didn't you come to Suna right when you thought that they were on your trail?"

Naruto walked towards him and stopped at the glass to lift one of the blinders up and peek outside. "How the hell could I've done that with all these Konoha parasites that you let invade your village?"

Gaara sighed and swiped the maps that had carelessly been thrown onto an armchair aside to take a seat. "You're being dramatic again. There are currently only two Konoha shinobi in the village who will be leaving this evening."

It didn't seem as if Naruto was listening to him. His frantic eyes continued on searching the room while he kept on scratching his scalp like he often did when he was nervous. The lengthy tresses that Gaara remembered from his friend's last visit had been shorn off. The short hair on his head couldn't have been older than a couple of weeks.

"What happened to your hair?" he asked in order to distract Naruto by involving him in a conversation.

"Huh?" the boy grunted and finally turned around to look at him again.

"Your hair," Gaara repeated.

Naruto snorted. "What do you think I did? Cut it off, of course. It attracted too much attention to begin with."

It wasn't unusual for Gaara to reunite with Naruto only to discover that the boy had completely changed his looks to the point where he had become entirely unrecognizable. As soon as his friend was overcome by a rush of paranoia, he left everything he had, changed his appearance and moved to a place miles away.

Currently, Naruto's skin was almost pale and sickly looking. He must've barricaded himself in this room for quite some time.

"Where did you stay before you arrived here?"

"I hid in the desert after passing through the Land of Rain," the teen mumbled and started to pace the room in an attempt to alleviate his anxious energy. "I spent as much time there as I could because it didn't look like it'd be raining in the nearby countries anytime soon. They'll probably try to track me with dogs again so I had to make sure they didn't catch my scent."

The ninja nodded in understanding. Naruto was a professional when it came to running away. Usually, he wasn't someone to think ahead, preferring to take on problems headfirst without asking any questions. A spontaneous person if Gaara had ever met one. But life on the run had forced him into being more careful; at least when it came to fleeing from his enemies - And Naruto perceived Konoha as his enemy.

"You shouldn't have spent so much time in Rain. It's dangerous there and you know that I my influence doesn't reach far into foreign countries - especially not into isolationist ones like the Rain."

Finally, the boy stopped pacing aimlessly and focused his gaze on the shinobu sitting in the comfortable armchair. "How'd you expect me to do that with Konoha ninjas, y'know, the very people I'm trying to avoid, buzzing around your place like they own it? Isn't this a result of your ruling?"

"You were the one to advise me to improve relations with the other hidden villages," Gaara countered serenely. He was used to his friend's rants by now. He didn't really mean them anyway.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I jokingly suggested that you should consider not starting a war now that you're the Kazekage. Tell me where I've told you to get all buddy-buddy with Konoha."

"You're overreacting again."

He often did. They knew each other for almost three years now and in that time Gaara had discovered that it wasn't rare for his friend to exaggerate when another surge of his persecutory delusions got a hold of him.

"I wish I was," Naruto refuted. He sat down on the unmade bed and lay his head into his hands. It looked as if an invisible weight was resting on his shoulders.

"What happened?" Gaara asked. "I thought that the smithy in the Land of Earth was relatively safe."

His friend shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so, too," he groaned. "But a couple of Konoha ninjas came around."

"Did they recognize you?"

"One of them did – kind of. He knew something was up with me but luckily couldn't figure it out. If he did find out who I am, ninjas are probably buzzing around Kinzoku's place as we're speaking."

"How old were they?"

Gaara doubted that there was actually something to his friend's suspicions if these Konoha shinobi had been young. After Naruto had become his friend, he'd made the effort to investigate the Hidden Leaf's relations to him. Of course, he'd known why they were, after all this time, still desperately searching for him.

Naruto was just like him. Gaara had felt it the moment he had seen him and could still remember the noise of Shikaku grumbling and ranting inside his head the second their eyes had met. Naruto was a jinchuuriki.

That day had been nearly three years ago.

Back then, he was aimlessly walking through the desert that surrounded his village – not a rare occurrence. After all, it was impossible to let himself fall asleep and he had to find a way to spend his time during the silent nights.

Often, he's been tempted to do it anyway - close his eyes and fade into sweet unconsciousness. It was the fear of never waking up again, Shukaku's constant voice reminding him what he would do once his host fell asleep, that forced him to keep his eyes open.

It wasn't other people's lives, which undoubtedly would be threatened, he was worried about. Caring for only himself was the foundation of his life philosophy, after all. Solely, the knowledge that Shukaku might actually escape his host's body and kill him in the process, kept him awake.

Suddenly, the hostile voice inside his head became louder. The low hissing transformed into deep, hoarse growls. The noise was so boisterous that it triggered an uncomfortable, pulsating sensation to permeate his skull.  
Gaara would've clasped his ears shut if he hadn't known that it wouldn't be of any help. All that he could do was to adhere to Shukaku's commands and follow where the sand led him.

The person that it tugged him towards wasn't a glorious sight to behold. It was only a strange boy whose feet were clumsy on the ground that gave away so easily and betrayed the fact that he was unfamiliar with this terrain.

While he kept on stumbling over his own feet, Gaara asked Shukaku why he had brought him here. Had it been the demon's simple, primal bloodlust? But Shukaku didn't answer him. All that Gaara could hear were his roars and guttural grumblings.

Suddenly, the boy looked up. When the green of his eyes met the moonlight-illuminated azure, Gaara was able to feel a strange, yet familiar, presence.

It could've been an instinctual gut-feeling, a part of him that had become accustomed with the presence of a demon inside his own body, that made him realize what the boy was. Or maybe it just had been Shukaku who had whispered the solution to him.

Gaara was already starting to prepare for a fight. If he could feel what the stranger was, surely he was able to feel what Gaara was, too.  
But apparently, he didn't have an idea because his face broke into a bright grin, his blonde ponytail swaying to the left when he asked, "Hey, care to help me out?"

Gaara tried to remember the last time someone had approached him in such an unguarded manner. The boy was the first in years and would stay the last for many to come.

The ninja didn't answer. Instead, he tried to figure out what to do with the weakling who was still staring at him with that stupid grin on his face. Disappointment arose in him. It could've been interesting to fight someone who was, in a way, just like him.

So he resorted to listening to Shukaku, like he so often did. A millennia-old demon inside one's head could be persuasive, yet awfully predictable. It really was Gaara's own fault to expect something more creative when all the demon ever wanted was to kill everyone in sight. But it wasn't like Gaara had a better idea.

So he attacked. He would've done it quickly, too, if he had known just how fast the boy could be. With a swift step the foreigner avoided his sand.

But they were in his realm. The desert – a vast ocean of sand – was his to control. If Gaara really wanted to, he could capture the boy easily. But if anything, the weakling was quick on his feet and Gaara needed some sort of entertainment to pass the night anyway.

So he let the sand chase him while picturing a whimsical cat playing with a rat before eventually eating it.  
The boy kept on running, jumping, fleeing. Sometimes he'd stumble over the soft ground and fall over only to scramble on his feet and start running anew. Often, Gaara let him escape where he could've captured him only because it was funny to see someone get so desperate in a frantic attempt to save their life.

Eventually, he asked the boy his first question, one that would remain relevant even in far future.

"For how long are you going to keep on running?"

Suddenly, the boy laughed. It was a strange sight. A weak, skinny civilian spending whatever meager strength he had to save his pitiful life with a bright smile on his face. He turned around for a short moment to catch Gaara's seemingly empty gaze.

"For as long as you're going to keep on chasing me!"

Gaara let the sand rest and watched the boy's steps come to a stop. He was panting loudly.

"You finally done?" he gasped between his difficult attempts to suck air into his exhausted lungs.

Instead of bothering to answer, Gaara retorted with another question. "What's your name?"

But the boy was stubborn and insolent. A stupid trait to have when you stood in front of someone who could kill you without having to move his eyelashes. "Why do you want to know?"

Gaara knew that his stare was frigid when he answered, "We might as well get aquatinted if I'm going to torture you for the next few hours."

The stranger scoffed dismissingly. "Weird protocol you've got here in Suna." Quirking his brow, his face split into another grin. "Tell you what? I'll introduce myself if you tell me who you are first."

A minute of silence filled the air. Only the sound of the blowing wind lifting the fine grains of sand could be heard.

"Are you bargaining with me?" the ninja finally asked. "Shouldn't you be begging for your life?"

The boy shrugged. "Take it or leave it. I'm not telling you my name before you tell me yours."

Figuring that either option didn't differentiate too much from the other, he answered, "They call me Gaara of the Desert."

The boy giggled although Gaara failed to see what was so funny about his current situation. "Well, they call me Naruto. 'Of the Desert' is a little redundant, though, don't you think? I could've gathered as much without having you to tell me that."

The corners of Gaara's mouth lifted slightly upwards. Naruto was mouthy in a way that hadn't annoyed him yet. He would serve well as a distraction for tonight. "Maybe they figured that 'Gaara' was a flashy enough name as it is. It does mean 'self-loving demon', after all."

Naruto nodded before laying his head to the side and watching him in a thoughtful manner. "Hey, aren't you the guy who let the Ichibi loose in the middle of Konoha?" Before Gaara could answer, Naruto raised his brows in curiosity. "So are you too much of a coward to fight on your own or what?"

In a flash, the sand was wrapped around Naruto, completely restricting every possible movement and tightening its hold around his throat. Gaara was listening to the boy trying to breathe in a seemingly detached manner although he was seething on the inside. The gall that this weak, insolent idiot had, made him so furious that even the choking sounds couldn't bring him any sort of satisfaction.

"You brat-"

"You're no older than me," the boy croaked out, his voice almost non-existent coming through the grip that the sand had around his throat. His face, fiery-red from the lack of oxygen, was twisted into a defiant grimace. "And you're no stronger than me. You're just letting the fat raccoon dog do all the work for you."

If there was anyone more enraged than him at that moment, it was Shukaku. Gaara hadn't ever experienced the demon shouting as loud before. Distantly, he could distinguish the demon ranting about the lowlife vessel being just as arrogant as the disgusting fox that it was hosting.  
But it was hard to focus on anything more. Never had the Ichibi caused him any sort of physical harm. As long as he could remember, the demon had protected his body from all injury. But at this very moment, Shukaku's howls were so noisy that they caused a piercing pain to erupt inside his head. Pain, such a foreign concept still.

But he didn't want to think about it. He was distracted by the urge to peel the foreigner's skin away with his bare fingernails. Then he wanted to push his thumbs into those sky-blue eyes and press hard enough for them to turn into mush until it could be mixed with the gray pulp that he would turn the boy's brain into. He didn't want any sand separating his pale skin from Naruto's tan one when he would show him just what Gaara of the Desert was capable of.

Those blue eyes were still shining although the boy should've long passed out from the lack of oxygen. The fire in them ignited even further when he whispered, "Come on, do it. You gotta press a little harder than that if you really want to kill me. Do it."

Gaara let go of the sand only to appear in front of Naruto, grab the knife that the boy had been hiding in his pockets and stab it into the bony shoulder while holding him up by his throat with his other hand. Naruto bit his lip and refused to make a sound.

Gaara would make him scream soon. He would take his sweet time inflicting the worst of pains before growing tired and finally killing him. And this time, he would do it with his bare hands.

It was strange to do it this way. The foreign sensation of contact with the skin made him forget his rage for a short moment. Actually touching someone while killing them felt oddly intimate. Gaara would've never thought that he was able to experience such a sensation.

He was brought back by the sight of Naruto slowly trying to lift his arm. Gaara let him, expecting him to try to free himself of the steely hold that he still had around the other jinchuuriki's throat. Anticipative of that intimacy that would once again arise when Naruto's blood-drenched hand would touch his bare arm, he followed the boy's movements with his eyes.

What followed was not what he'd expected.

Complete silence. He needed a few seconds to understand what was wrong. But it was just that, silence. Gaara couldn't hear Shukaku anymore.

"Did it work?" Naruto muttered.

Gaara didn't have the time to process the words because the next thing he saw was that the skin that Naruto had touched took on a purplish hue. Then there was pain.

"Uhoh," mumbled the boy whose throat was now free because Gaara could do nothing but watch his arm's violet skin tone in both horror and morbid fascination while pain continued on consuming him. That aching, the feeling of what he could only describe as someone impaling his arm with fiery hot iron bars, made it impossible to think.

"What have you done?" he asked in panic. What was happening?

"Shit," was Naruto's answer. "Okay, I can repair this. You need to talk with me, okay?"

Gaara couldn't listen. "What have you done?!" he shouted.

In a swift motion, Naruto slapped him harshly with his blood-free hand. "Listen, if you don't answer my questions, I can't fix this. You need to focus, do you understand?"

Numbly, Gaara nodded while trying and failing to shut out the burning pain. He realized that his knees must've buckled when he had been overcome by the foreign sensations because he was currently sitting on the ground. In the back of his mind he was wondering why his sand wasn't reacting and only lying limply on the ground. It should've stopped the boy from slapping him.

Naruto sat down in front of him and pulled out a notebook and a pen - _a notebook and a pen_. Gaara almost laughed. Hysteria, was probably the most apt term to describe what was dominating his current state of mind.

"Answer the questions, alright?"

Gaara nodded in a disattached manner.

"Blood type?"

"AB."

"Birthdate?"

"19th of January."

"Age?"

"Thirteen."

"Elemental affinity?"

"Wind."

"Any hereditary diseases in your family history?"

"I don't think so, no."

"Since when do you hold the Ichibi?"

"He was sealed into me while I was in my mother's womb."

Naruto cursed and started to scribble something into his notebook, asking rapid questions every now and then. Sometimes he tore the pages out and started anew while Gaara wasn't aware of anything but the pain that was gradually spreading out. The purplish hue had reached his shoulder already.

"Don't pass out on me," Naruto mumbled while continuing on scribbling.

"What have you done?" Gaara asked once again, this time tiredly. He was so exhausted that he had to lie down on the soft sand. Something was draining him of all energy.

"Faulty seal," Naruto answered curtly. He shook his head. "No, not a faulty seal. Just not the right seal for you. But I didn't have the time nor the knowledge to come up with something specifically tailored for you and the Ichibi."  
The boy stopped his scrambling and watched the page in his notebook. "Alright. I've got something to prevent the effects of the seal from spreading."

He seized into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a little jar of ink and a fine haired paintbrush. With a swift move, he tore the sleeve of Gaara's sweater apart so he could inspect his arm more closely. Naruto's blood was still smeared near his elbow where the boy had touched him.

But Naruto only paid attention to where the purplish hue, the color of dying flesh, ended. Then, he dipped the brush into the ink and painted unreadable patterns on Gaara's shoulder while Gaara dizzily watched the other jinchuuriki's eyes narrow in concentration.

After some time, the boy laid his tools aside and seeped some chakra to where he had drawn the patterns on. Then, he sighed and picked his notebook up.

"What did you do?"

"Another seal. It won't be getting any worse. Now I'm working on reversing the damage," Naruto muttered around the pen he was gnawing on.

"Why?"

The boy looked up and blinked. "What do you mean? I'm the one who messed you up in the first place."

"Isn't that what you wanted to achieve? To kill me?"

Naruto scowled and Gaara realized that he had offended him. "Do you think I'm a killer?" He scoffed. "I wouldn't do that unless I absolutely had to. I just wanted to cut off your connection with the Ichibi so you would stop acting like a psycho."

Gaara kept silent, satisfied that Naruto thought that his acts were merely a result of the demon's influence. The truth was, if he knew another way to revise the inflicted damage, he would've kill Naruto right at that very moment. But he still needed him.

Suddenly, he remembered something and he felt his previous franticness returning. "Why doesn't the sand react to me any longer?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Uuh, I might've shut down one or two… or three functions in your body. I'm not completely sure to be honest." Laughing in an embarrassed manner, he added, "Something went wrong but I didn't have the time to do it right."

He started to scribble again and Gaara could discern that he was drawing some sort of unrecognizable sketches.

"Every seal is its own creation, you know? You have to understand what or whom you're applying it on because it is specifically meant to interact with it. Every human body is unique so how could something react the same way on anybody else? The seal I just activated on you might not work on some random other guy because he might have some sort of genetic mutation that causes their chakra to work slightly differently. There are only few basic seals that can be used by almost anyone on almost anything since they are only meant to provoke an extremely simple reaction anyway. But if you want to achieve something more difficult, the seal has to be tailored to fit to you."

He didn't leave Gaara any time to mull over his explanation and continued speaking. "I gotta admit, I didn't imagine my first encounter with a jinchuuriki to go over this badly." He wore a dreamy expression on his face as he continued, "You guys were always fascinating to me. To seal such a vast amount of foreign chakra into a human body is incredible."

It dawned on Gaara then that Naruto had no idea that he was a jinchuuriki himself. The way he spoke of the bijuus and their hosts as if they were completely foreign to him was self-explanatory.

"Where are you from?" Gaara asked him although he already had his own ideas about that. After all, Shukaku had mentioned a fox and everyone knew about the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that had attacked Konohagakure many years ago.

Naruto shrugged. "From everywhere."

"Why are you here?"

"I was curious about this place. Care to show me around?"

Gaara forced his weak limbs into hosting himself to sit up. "I can do that," he agreed although he'd already decided that he would kill the other jinchuuriki as soon as he was healed.

They didn't talk for the rest of the night save for the few questions that Naruto asked now and then to note them down into his notebook. He kept on adding bullet points and changing his sketches only to tear the pages out and start anew.

It was nearing sunrise when Naruto asked, "Haven't you got someone waiting for you? They'll be worried since you've been away the whole night."

Gaara decided that he could be as open as he wanted to be. It wasn't like Naruto was going to live for much longer. "They'll curse you for refusing to let me die."

The boy looked up from his writings and caught Gaara's gaze. "They hate you?"

"Yes."

Naruto raised his eyebrows in both surprise and confusion. "Why're you still here then? Why don't you leave?"

"Is it what you did?"

Naruto froze the hand that was holding his pen and stared at him for a while before shrugging nonchalantly. "Yes."

Gaara wondered what the boy could've experienced for him to make the decision to leave his hometown behind. Like him, the foreigner was a demon container. Maybe they shared a similar past.

"Did you have people try to assassinate you, as well?" When Naruto's mouth fell open in incredulity, he deducted that he had been wrong.

The boy pressed his lips into a determined and grim expression before bursting out, "Why the hell are you still walking through this goddamned desert then, you idiot? Leave before they can hurt you even further!"

Gaara couldn't remember someone ever insulting him this blatantly and not being dead in a matter of the next few minutes. But he couldn't harm the boy before he'd healed Gaara. Instead, he decided to focus on the question that he'd been asked.  
He had never seriously contemplated leaving Suna behind because he knew that other places wouldn't be any different.

"I don't need to do that. I am strong and I can protect myself." Early on, he had learnt that the only way to protect yourself was to kill people before they could kill you; solely caring for himself had made him powerful.

"You're strong?" Naruto scoffed. "You would've been dead if I had left you with that faulty seal on your arm."

Gaara frowned. "You've caught me by surprise. You've only managed to plant that seal because I have allowed you to touch me."

Raising a brow, Naruto remarked, "Does it matter?"

Dread formed inside Gaara's stomach when he realized that no, it didn't matter, at all. Whether Naruto had managed to harm him by a trick or brute strength – he could've died either way. This skinny, clumsy boy may have killed him.

"How did you gain strength?"

"Independence," Naruto answered with an air of finality, as if that simple word was the solution to every existing problem. "Free yourself from everyone and everything holding you down and you will be forced to rely on yourself. If you are the only one you can count on, you will inevitably become strong – or else you will die." He narrowed his eyes in determination. "I can see that you've got a strong will to survive, Gaara. You could do it."

Gaara frowned, confused by the nonsensical explanation. "I already solely rely on myself. I _am_ independent."

Naruto's lips twisted into a sardonic smile. "Your headband tells me otherwise. No shinobi can ever be independent; therefore they can never be free. You're tools for the higher-ups to use."

A heavy weight formed inside Gaara's chest when he realized that Naruto was right. Didn't he, like any other ninja in his village, adhere to the Kazekage's commands and complete the missions that he's been assigned to do? But Suna did not only use him as a ninja, but also as a jinchuuriki. Shukaku had been sealed inside him only so that the village would have a powerful weapon to its disposal.  
He was being controlled and maybe that was the one thing that was holding him back.

"I will free myself," he decided and watched Naruto's face lighten up. "But not in the way that you did."

"What do you mean? Don't you want to leave the village? You can't be free if you continue on staying here."

"You aren't free either," he retorted calmly. After all, Naruto was a jinchuuriki just like he was. His village would want to control him just as much as Suna wanted to control Gaara. "You're fleeing from them." When the boy flinched, Gaara knew he'd been right. "If your hometown has that much of an influence on you that it forces you to live a life on the run, you're not really free."

Naruto scowled. "Yeah? What do you suggest to do then?"

"Become the Kazekage."

Finally, Naruto had been stunned into silence.

"If you're at the top of the food chain, you cannot be controlled."

"That's… Actually not that bad of an idea." He straightened up and let his mouth spread into bright smile once again. Gaara wondered whether he remembered that he had attempted to kill him not long ago. "You know what? You will become the Kazekage and I will keep on running. Then we'll compare and see which one of us is right!"

Years later, Gaara became the Kazekage while Naruto kept on running.

He hadn't killed Naruto that night like he'd intended to, even after Naruto had reversed the seal and his abilities as well as Shukaku's voice had returned. He'd thought that he could always do it later, when they eventually found out which one of them had been right.

The boy had returned to Suna time and time again, almost always with a bright grin on his face. But he had also kept on looking over his back to check whether Konoha shinobi had been closing in on him. Strangely, Gaara had never been the focus of his qualms.

At one point, Gaara asked him why he didn't fear his presence. After all, the boy didn't know that he was a jinchuuriki himself. He believed himself to be a simple human being. It would make sense for him to be wary of Gaara.

Naruto held his gaze. He was full of self-confidence when he answered, "You could travel through every single country but you wouldn't find a better sealer than me. I, better than anyone, know the difference between you and the Ichibi."

"Isn't it scarier to know that it is me, not only the Ichibi, who is capable of doing what you know I did? It isn't solely the demon's influence that made me who I am today."

Naruto nodded and Gaara realized that the boy had drawn his own conclusions long ago. "I know. It is the villagers' faults." In a rare moment of absolute candor, he explained, "We don't share the same past but I still can't help but see myself in you. Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I had never left. I want to see what you will do with your life."

So he'd stayed for a few weeks at least before leaving only to return again. Several times Gaara had given up on his goal of becoming the Kazekage, dismissing it as a spur-of-the-moment decision that he hadn't really spend time thinking about. Those times Naruto had never failed to call him an idiot. He'd hated it, still did, when people went back on their word.

"I you hadn't wanted to become the Kazekage, you wouldn't have said it in the first place. Obviously some part of you wants it. You want it, you get it."

Naruto had remembered Gaara what it felt like to be supported. Never had he expected to find a companion in Naruto.

Neither had he seriously expected his relationship with Suna's villagers to change as drastically as it had. When Gaara had stopped hurting the people and had began to protect them in order to reach his goal of becoming the Kazekage, they had gradually started to respect him. In a matter of years, their fearful looks had changed into expressions of devotion.

On the day he was appointed as the next Kazekage, he stood on the balcony of the high tower with his siblings forming a wall of support behind him. While the masses were cheering his name, he only searched for the familiar mop of blonde hair in the crowd – his first supporter, his first friend. He was disappointed when he couldn't spot him.

But the job didn't wait. At the same day was shown to his office to work through the stacks of paperwork that had piled up. His work was only interrupted by a clumsy clerk almost spilling hot tea over his lap only to be held off by a rush of sand.

"Oops." The mirthful blue eyes that looked at him didn't seem sorry, at all.

"I know you've worked at a teahouse before, so don't even pretend that this was an accident," Gaara responded before softening his features into a smile that people rarely got to see, even now.

Naruto grinned and set the tray aside. "So now that you've become the Wind's hotshot, do you finally know which one of us has been right?"

Gaara remembered their little bet, their quest to find out which was the best way to achieve freedom. "Congratulations to your win," he sighed.

His village had become important to him. As his people had devoted themselves to him, he had inevitably devoted himself to them. He'd known that he would protect it with his life. Gaara had only chained himself to Suna even further.

There was just one person he would put before everything, even his village.

Gaara blinked and forced himself to return to the present. While sitting in the comfortable chair in the messy hotel room, he had drifted off. But he had to focus and find out whether his friend was really in danger. If not, he had to calm Naruto down so that he wouldn't make any unwise and rash decisions. If Naruto was, in fact, right, he had to do everything in his power to keep Konoha away from him.

"Hey Gaara, you fell asleep or something?" Naruto asked with his head buried in his hands. He was still sitting on the unmade bed with his back formed into a dejected hunch.

"You know that I don't sleep." Before Naruto could start discussing over a pointless matter, Gaara returned to his original train of thought. "How old were those people that you've encountered?"

"About our age. Why do you ask?"

Gaara didn't respond and returned to his musings.

Years ago, Suna had perceived him as a mere weapon and that was probably the way Konoha looked at Naruto still.

Being the Kazekage had taught him that having a jinchuuriki in your weapon arsenal was actually quite a trump card. Having a strong military kept rivaling villages at bay and gave you leverage in the political world.

Under no circumstances, would Konoha broadcast the fact that their jinchuuriki was not under their control anymore. They had enemies waiting to spot a crack in the Hidden Leaf's defenses. To keep this information from spreading, they had to be secretive, even among their own ranks. Gaara didn't expect young generations to be aware of Naruto's existence. Therefore, the shinobi that his friend had encountered were probably harmless.

But Gaara couldn't explain that to Naruto.

Although they had known each other for years, Gaara had never told him that his friend was a jinchuuriki. At this point, he was scared that Naruto would resent Gaara for not telling him sooner.

Familiar guilt made itself known, resting on his chest like a rock and making it hard to breathe. Even now he couldn't be upfront. At moments like these he asked himself whether he had really changed at all, whether he really wasn't a selfish demon anymore. Keeping the truth from Naruto that the boy deserved to know, only because Gaara feared losing his friendship – wasn't that selfish?

"You okay, Gaara?"

When he looked up, he found Naruto staring at him concernedly. Although the boy tended to get wrapped up with his own issues when he thought that he was being tracked down, he never stopped looking out for other people, especially for Gaara.

"You're selfless." _Unlike me._

Naruto raised his brows in both surprise and confusion. "No, I'm not," he negated. "I roam through the countries, unattached, knowing that I'll leave everything and everyone behind whenever the time calls for it. That isn't selfless."

"Will you leave me behind when the time calls for it?"

Naruto groaned and combed with his fingers through the short strands of his hair. "Why're you getting all sappy on me, Gaara? Did I do something to make you doubt me?"

He shook his head vehemently. "Never."

"Where are you pulling all this bullshit from then? Stop brooding and help me out with this. You gotta know something now that you're the hotshot Kazekage."

Gaara smiled and nodded. "Well, have you learnt their names? Knowing who they are might help me figure this out."

Restlessness returned to Naruto now that they were talking about the Konoha shinobi again. He nervously nibbled at his lip before responding, "Shikamaru Nara was the one who talked to me. I don't know the other ones' identities."

"I recognize that name," Gaara mumbled.

"You do?"

He nodded. "I met him during the Chunin Exams."

An expression that Gaara couldn't identify emerged on Naruto's face. He seemed absorbed in thought. "You mean _those_ Chunin Exams?"

"Yes. But I have met him some times after that, too. The Hokage likes to send him to Suna for diplomatic purposes."

"Are you telling me that there's a good chance that I'll see him around here?" Naruto gasped. Abruptly, he stood up and aimlessly started to pace through the room once again. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. "I have to get out of here. I have to get back to-"

"No," Gaara interrupted. "You're the safest when you're in Suna. Even if Nara has found out that you're someone that Konoha's searching for, there is no chance that you will be encountering him here. I am fully informed which foreign ninja enter and exit my village. Leaving will only increase your risks of being spotted because I have no control over what is happening outside the Land of Wind. "

Naruto clenched his fist in frustration. Gaara knew that his friend hated waiting and biding his time. Nervously, he kept on gnawing at the nails of his fingers for a while until the skin broke and a tiny amount of blood emerged. The boy cursed and muttered something under his breath.

"Do you trust me to have your back, Naruto?"

His friend turned around to face him again. "I think that one of these days I will have to knock some sense in you if you're going to continue helping me. I'm scared that your support for me will damage you eventually."

Naruto was probably right. Not that Gaara cared.

 **.**

 **A/N:** **Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments on last chapter! I'm sorry for the late update but I was busy with exams and this was also a difficult chapter to write.**

 **I know that the story didn't really progress but I wanted to explore Gaara's and Naruto's past extensively because Gaara will not just be a passing character in this story.**

 **Although I like to change up the POVs, I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to add another perspective because that would be difficult to keep up with I think.**

 **And! Like you've already read, Fuuinjutsu is in Naruto's skill arsenal. I feel like it's a theme that's on the brink of becoming overused but since I'm a piece of trash, I'm gonna go ahead and do it anyway. (The whole Naruto-leaves-Konoha-AU is overused, too, so who am I kidding..) It's cool to make up the rules of sealing since we don't have much in canon to work with.**

 **Please leave me a review, I love reading your thoughts first thing when I wake up in the morning:)**


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

 **.**

"Let me recap this," Tsunade began with a deep frown etched into her face. "When you arrived at the smithy, the boy was already gone but you, Shikamaru, deducted that he has a friend in the Land of Wind who's helping him out?"

"Yes," Asuma-sensei confirmed. "It isn't unlikely that Naruto may be seeking refuge at his friend's place if he has suspected our onset."

The Hokage sighed. "Well, I guess it's good to know that there's someone who could lead us to him. But how the hell are we going to find his friend? The Land of Wind is almost thrice as big as the Land of Fire. It could be anyone."

Shikamaru shrugged and longingly looked towards the chairs in front of Tsunade's desk. He'd like to sit down, lean his head back and close his eyes for a little while. But they had to finish this report before he could finally return home to take a relaxing shower and sleep until the next day.

"For now, we're only keeping it in our minds as an afterthought. The knowledge that Naruto has a friend in the Wind country is enough to start searching for him. He's probably visited him quite a number of times, already. During his stay in the smithy, he must've taken the fastest route to reach his destination. Therefore, he must've passed through the Land of Rain," he explained.

"I understand," his father retorted as he scratched his beard, absorbed in thought. Grateful that both their minds worked in the same lanes, Shikamaru let Shikaku elaborate. "While the Wind Country is huge, the Rain Country isn't. The border between the two only encompasses a small area. He must've stayed at an inn at the side of Wind every now and then. After all, he is forced to pass through Rain very quickly because they don't allow foreigners to stay for long."

Tsunade grinned in that predatory way that made Shikamaru almost feel sorry for Naruto. Since she's been saddled with the job of the Hokage, she made sure to take her frustrations out on other people. Shikamaru had been told that she'd always been a little rough around the edges but that it had only grown worse ever since she 'd taken on her current position. It seemed like she pretty much hated everyone in the village save for her assistant Shizune.

Different rumors existed about why she had accepted the job in the first place when it was obvious that she hated it. But he'd never paid the gossip any mind. He'd just stay out of her way and try to live as comfortable as possible. Getting yourself on Tsunade's shitlist was only a foolproof way to lead a troublesome life.

"So if we ask around the inns at the border, we are bound to find someone who's seen him before and may have some further clues about him," she reasoned.

By her determined nod, Shikamaru could tell that she's already formed a plan inside her head.

"We will form a team to interview the inn owners. But first, we have to contact the Kazekage. As much as I'd like to march into Wind without further ado, it'd be best to have his approval for such a big operation so we can prevent facing any resistance there."

His father nodded in satisfaction. Shikamaru knew that he must be relieved that she didn't opt for more offensive methods to go about this mission. Tsunade wasn't dumb, far from it, but she was a little too passionate for politics. It often gave Shikaku intense headaches.

"I agree. We do not need to strain our relationship with Suna even further," the strategist endorsed while the other three ninja remained silent. Not even Kakashi opposed to the plan even though he undoubtedly wanted to capture Naruto as soon as possible. But the man was a seasoned shinobi and would therefore know how dangerous it'd be to be anything less than careful in the deserts of the Wind Country.

Konoha's relationship with Suna was difficult to say the least. It could be worse, Shikamaru figured, considering that they had attacked their home about four years ago in the middle of the Chunin Exams.  
Although Suna had been deceived by Orochimaru, it was a miracle that no one had started a war over that affair. But since both villages had lost their Kages, they had probably been too wounded to attempt to attack each other.  
Still, Konoha had been lucky that a third party hadn't used their weakness to assault them at that time. Tsunade's quick installment and her notorious reputation did probably have a lot to do with that.

Shikamaru was pulled out of his musings when Kakashi chose to speak up.

"How much you are planning to tell him? Surely, we can't let the Kazekage know the whole truth about Naruto."

The Hokage scoffed. "Of course not. We'll say that we're searching for an underage civilian who fled the village. It's the truth and that's all he needs to know."

In that moment, Shikamaru was aware that the other people in the room knew something that he didn't. But since he didn't want to get involved with this mess any further than he already was, he resolutely kept his mouth shut.

"It shouldn't pose a problem," his father assented. "After all, we are only planning on recapturing a Leaf's citizen. Suna wouldn't be threatened in any way."

"Good," Tsunade established. "This evening I'm going to send a scroll to the Kazekage. We have time to plan this operation until his response arrives. For now, you're dismissed."

Relieved, Shikamaru was about to leave the room with the other two men, already looking forward to his soft bed, when the Hokage called, "Not you, Shikamaru. We've got something to talk about."

Since he knew that whining wouldn't help, he didn't even attempt to protest and dejectedly turned around for whatever the head of his village had to stay. The calming presence of his father reassured him a little.

"Sit down," Tsunade ordered.

Shikamaru obliged. Although he was glad that he could finally sit, this could only mean that this conversation was going to take some time. Great.

"I've decided to install you as a permanent fixture in the project to retrieve Naruto Uzumaki," she stated in a tone that, as usual, bore no room for argument.

In the back of his mind, he noted that he finally had a last name to attach to the boy they were searching for.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" he asked, careful to convey his doubt in a neutral tone.

She leaned forward, arms on her desk, and answered, "Yes. You're one of our best strategists, Shikamaru. Like this mission has showed again, you're immensely perceptive, too. And unlike your father, I can actually use you on the field."

Shikamaru wasn't sure whether he believed in God. He wouldn't want to be disrespectful in case He did exist. But for the umpteenth time in his life, he cursed whatever talents he's been gifted with at birth. It only brought on bullshit like this.

When the Hokage realized that she wouldn't be getting a retort, she continued, "But for you to be able to work at your best, you have to know the whole truth about Naruto Uzumaki."

Shikamaru perked up. He'd been intrigued ever since he'd met the other boy, after all. Now that he was too involved to escape this whole affair, there was no point in not satisfying his curiosity.

Noticing that she had his undivided attention, Tsunade began her explanation with a question.

"How much do you know about the Kyuubi?"

Shikamaru shrugged, puzzled by the sudden change of topic. "He's the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that attacked Konoha sixteen years ago. When the Yondaime defeated him, he disappeared."

Tsunade nodded. "By 'defeated', we let the people assume that he's been killed. But everyone who knows a basic thing or two about the bijuus, is aware that that assumption is essentially a pile of horseshit. The Tailed Beasts aren't physical in the way that human beings are. They are large masses of chakra. The Namikaze brat was good but even he couldn't have killed something that cannot be killed."

Her explanation made sense. Shikamaru had never really spent time delving into what the Tailed Beasts were made of. He'd never cared about it.  
The only time he'd been somewhat confronted with that issue, was when Gaara of the Desert let his monster loose in the middle of Konoha. But at that time, he'd been so exhausted from his final battle at the Chunin Exams, he'd barely managed to do anything. He hadn't been present to Gaara raging through the forest.

Suddenly, Shikamaru's eyes widened in understanding. Many of them hadn't known why Gaara had acted like a psychopath, how he'd been able to control the sand and what the hell he'd pulled when he'd fought Sasuke during the final battles. Only later on, people had started to murmur that he had released the Ichibi, the One-Tailed Demon, as an attempt to destroy Konoha. The demon had been sealed into his body.

"The Yondaime hasn't killed the Kyuubi, he's sealed him into a person."

"Yes," Tsunade confirmed. "The fox was sealed into his son's body. Naruto Uzumaki is the container of the Kyuubi."

Shikamaru relaxed when he finally understood why everyone was so dead set on finding the boy. You wouldn't want the guy who holds the power of a chakra monster out of your influence, or even worse, controlled by one of your enemies.

"You have to keep this fact in mind if you want to predict Naruto's next move," Shikaku proceeded. "But it hasn't come to our attention that he's ever used the Kyuubi's chakra. In fact, we don't even know whether he's aware that he is the fox's host."

The Hokage snorted. "Just expect the worst. I know that Kakashi doesn't want to hear it, and that's why I send him out, but he poses a serious threat. Hatake is on some weird guilt-trip and doesn't want to accept the fact that his sensei's son is very dangerous and obviously not on friendly terms with Konoha."

Shikamaru remembered his first meeting with the boy. Back then, he hadn't seemed hostile in any way but you could never know. The only jinchuuriki he's ever encountered was Gaara, who was a mystery in his own regard. He'd started out as a sociopathic lunatic only to turn into a balanced, pacifistic leader of his village. Who knew where Naruto fit in between all of that.

"You've probably guessed it already but I'm still going to clarify," Tsunade interrupted his thoughts. "What I have just told you is a secret. Back in the day, the old man installed a law that you could be executed for talking about it. I haven't changed that and I'm not planning on doing it. Under no circumstances, can we allow this information to seep outside the walls of Konoha."

Shikamaru nodded, understanding the gravity of her words.

"Can I ask something?"

Tsunade raised a brow, prodding him to continue.

"Why did he leave in the first place? If I understood his motivations, it'd be a lot easier to predict his future actions."

The Hokage sighed and softened her features. It was one of the rare times she let sympathy shine through. "I wasn't in Konoha at that time but I can imagine what happened." She shrugged. "People are ignorant, especially civilians who don't understand ninja techniques. Jinchuuriki are often ostracized because they either get confused with the demon they're hosting, or because people fear that the demon might escape any moment. Adding that to the fact that he didn't have any family to support him, he must've led a pretty isolated life."

Shikamaru nodded. It was hard to put himself into Naruto's shoes since nothing close had ever happened to him.

Tsunade sighed again. "Well, that'll be all. I'll call you in later but for now you're dismissed."

Shikamaru stood up and walked towards the door. Before exiting, he halted briefly when a thought crossed his mind.

"I'd suggest installing a couple of people outside the borders of Wind. There's still time before we can start this mission and we cannot afford to lose our advantage in case he tries to leave in the meantime. Nothing major, of course, we don't want to catch Suna's eye before getting the Kazekage's approval. Just enough people for him to decide to stay in the country."

Tsunade smiled. "Excellent idea."

Shikamaru finally left the building, looking forward to return home, when he saw Ino and Choji waving at him. He started walking deliberately slow so that they could catch up.

"Hey Shikamaru! How's it going?" Choji greeted in his usual cheerful manner.

"Not much. Exhausted."

"Where were you?" Ino asked. "You were suddenly gone without any forewarning."

He shrugged. "Mission." The lack of further information made it clear that he wasn't allowed to elaborate. Choji and, even if he wouldn't admit it openly, Ino, were one of the few people he truly trusted. But as a ninja, you learnt that it was best to keep your mouth shut if your Kage told you to do so. As fellow shinobi, they both understood and didn't ask for an explanation.

Ino grinned. "Tsunade's has been working you pretty good recently, hasn't she?"

Shikamaru groaned. "God, yes. I can't seem to catch a break. Right when I think that I'm finally able to relax, she comes up with yet another mission."

She shrugged and smirked teasingly in that way that suggested that she had some sort of superior knowledge. "Well, people have been talking, you know."

Since Shikamaru wasn't interested in the least about the latest village gossip, he ignored her comment. But even Choji, who usually was as clueless as Shikamaru when it came to stuff like that, smiled impishly.

"It's been said that you're the next to be promoted to jonin," his friend explained.

Shikamaru turned to Ino and fixed her with a cold stare. "Was it you who started this rumor?"

She shrugged. "It isn't unreasonable, though, is it? You're being sent on missions more frequently than the rest of us chunins and you almost always have to take the lead. And now the Hokage is even putting you together with other jonins to give you these super-secret assignments." She smirked. "Wouldn't be the first time for your lazy ass to get an early promotion."

Choji's bright grin didn't budge. "That'd be so cool! Remember when you were among the worst during Academy? Now you've made chunin before anyone else in our graduation year and you're probably going to be the first one to make jonin, too."

Shikamaru's mood soured. "I hope not. I can barely manage the current workload."

The girl laughed. "Oh man, Neji's going to be pissed when he finds that out."

He frowned. He hadn't even thought about that but Ino was right. Everyone knew that, if it was about the ability to win a fight through physical proficiency, Neji should've been made jonin long ago. Although Shikamaru had experienced firsthand that this wasn't all that was considered when promoting someone, he suspected that Neji's lack of leadership qualities wasn't the reason why he was still stuck on chunin level.

The sad, yet hilarious, truth was that Tsunade couldn't stand Neji's guts. Shikamaru wasn't just recently struck by the realization that you shouldn't mess with the Sannin. The Hyuuga was too arrogant for her liking and when he had dared to voice his disapproval about the missions he'd been receiving and her lack of discipline in general, the Hokage had decided to annoy him as much as possible.  
But it was only after the Hyuuga clan had tried to badger her into promoting their prodigy when Neji has ironically lost all possibilities of being promoted in near future.

Tsunade didn't take well to people attempting to pressure her.  
Shikamaru wasn't sure what had happened to Koharu and Homura, the old geezers who used to advise the Sandaime, but judging by their lack of presence, he could only guess that Tsunade's fired them. He distantly remembered that the elders used to be somewhat forceful when it came to convincing the former Hokage of their opinions. But essentially, the two had been appointed by the Sandaime himself who'd wanted to establish a discourse of ideas. A good idea in theory, but one that Tsunade clearly hadn't liked. She only listened to his father's explanations who always tried to be as objective as possible and never overstepped his boundaries. Occasionally, Shizune functioned as her conscience, but that was all.

The Hyuugas should've known to be careful around her, especially considering how they always acted like they were smarter than everyone else.

Shikamaru couldn't say that he liked them. Hinata, the shy girl who he graduated Academy with, was alright but the rest of them tended to act like they were superior to other people.  
He wouldn't care if he didn't have to work with them on missions. Although they eventually learnt not to question every single decision he made as a team leader, it was always a trial to get them to that point.  
Neji had been particularly hard to deal with. These days, they got along well enough to work efficiently together. But Shikamaru had no intentions to spend any further time with him.

He just hoped that his promotion would remain a rumor so he could save himself a lot of work and confrontation.

He sighed when he finally spotted the familiar Nara estate.

Choji put a hand on his shoulder. "Get some rest. We'll catch up later."

Yeah, he deserved to be lazy for a while.

 **.**

Gaara watched the scroll on his desk, suppressing the tremor that wanted to run through his skin. Carefully, he looked up to face the two foreign ninja standing in front of him. Their Leaf-headbands gleamed proudly on their foreheads.

"The response will be ready by tomorrow morning. Be my guests until then and rest in one of our hotels," he suggested in a monotone voice.

The two men nodded politely and left his office.

Although he was finally alone, he found it impossible to relax. He picked up the scroll once again to reread it another time.

The Hokage was asking for his approval to install ninjas at the borders of the Wind Country and interview inn owners that were located near the Rain. They were searching for an underage civilian who had fled from his village.

Gaara felt the strange urge to curse.

When it had been reported to him that a few Konoha shinobi had been sighted at the outer skirts of the border, he had instantly suspected that something was wrong. Back then, he had been relieved that Naruto hadn't attempted to leave the country. Otherwise, he might've encountered them on his way.

But now that the Hokage was asking for permission to conduct a broad, thorough mission at places that his friend has passed through, looking for someone who fit his description, he was absolutely sure that Konoha was searching for him again. Worse, they had somehow figured out that he was staying in the Land of Wind.

Briefly, he wondered how they had managed to come to that conclusion. Gaara knew just how careful Naruto was. How could they have found any clue about his current whereabouts?

Narrowing his eyes, he remembered what his friend had told him only a few days ago. He had encountered Shikamaru Nara. It was the boy who always seemed so unassuming and harmless when the Hokage sent him over. But Gaara knew that immense intelligence and perceptiveness hid under that inconspicuous façade.

Damn it.

He should've taken Naruto more serious when he had told him that he'd met Nara. However, because his friend tended to overreact on a regular basis, he'd predicted no danger.

But it had begun again.

Gaara had only experienced one single chase until now.  
It had been only a couple of months after they had first met. At that time, Naruto had left for the Land of Water, a place he had never visited before. When he'd arrived there, he'd started working at a boat renting service at one of the many islands. Naruto had said to him that he'd liked living near the sea. His friend had once told him that he'd been the happiest while working for a fisher at the coast of the Land of Hot Water for over a year.  
But he hadn't stayed at Water for a month when he was already discovered by Konoha shinobis. At that time, he had fled to Suna because their strained relationship to Konoha kept the village free of the Leaf's shinobis. That had been the end of an arduous flight he had only heard of.

Now he was about to experience one of these manhunts.

Abruptly, he stood up. He couldn't allow losing any more time. He had to contact Naruto and inform him of Konoha's plans. After hiding the scroll under his clothes, he quickly exited his office and the building.

Luckily, it was night and not many people were on the streets. He always had to be careful not to catch anybody's eye when visiting Naruto.

It only took him half an hour to arrive. His friend had moved into a hotel in a big village near Suna. After walking through the building's floors that he had somewhat grown familiar with, he knocked twice on Naruto's door.

"It's me," he whispered.

The door opened a crack to reveal his friend's tired expression. "Gaara? Did something happen?"

"Let me in."

Naruto obliged and closed the door behind him after Gaara entered the room. He decided to get straight to business.

"You were right. Konoha knows you're here."

The boy's face paled visibly, which was a feat considering the pallor he had acquired during the last weeks of self-induced confinement.

"So the ninjas that were spotted across the border a few days ago hadn't been there coincidentally?"

Gaara shook his head. "I don't think so, no." He passed Naruto the Hokage's scroll. "They're planning on interviewing the inn owners near the Rain border and installing some guards on the other borders."

"They want to trace me while I am trapped and unable to leave the country," Naruto realized.

Gaara wanted to reassure his friend that they wouldn't find him. After all, clues would only lead them so far and they couldn't search the entire Wind Country for him. But he hadn't taken this situation serious enough before.  
Helplessness settled onto him, making him become uneasy and restless. He could not allow Konoha to retrieve his best friend.

"I could forbid them to enter the country," he suggested weakly.

Naruto shook his head. "No," he replied, his voice strangely hollow. "You should have no reason to refuse this. If you did it anyway, they would immediately suspect that something's wrong."

Gaara had known this already but he didn't know what else to do. Their only other option was to hide Naruto in the hopes that he wouldn't be found. He watched as Naruto nibbled on his lips, deeply absorbed in thought.

Finally, he stopped and looked at Gaara. He expected his friend to tell him that he had told him so, that Gaara should've taken him serious from the get-go. Instead, he said, "Fine. If they want to have another chase, they'll get it."

The determined tone of voice, the passion in his eyes – it all reminded Gaara of the night they had met. When his sand had been gripping the boy's throat tightly and Naruto, seemingly weak, had looked into his eyes and had dared Gaara to kill him.

Naruto grinned. "I wish it wouldn't have come to this but I've got no other choice than to continue fleeing. And I know better how to flee than they know how find. That's how I managed to escape for so long, after all."

"Naruto."

"Hm?" The boy perked up.

"Remember when you told me that you will inevitably become strong if you are the only one you can count on, or else you will die?"

Naruto nodded. "I still stand by that. You know that I always stand by my word."

"Well, I don't care how strong you are. I will not allow you to only count on yourself. You know that I have your back whether you like it or not."

A bright smile once again spread over his friend's face. "Good. I've already got some ideas; this isn't my first chase, after all. Are you ready for the first step of my genius plan?"

Gaara nodded in determination.

"First, you have to get me women's clothes and a lot of coffee."

 **.**

 **A/N:** **Woohoo! I'm really hyped about this chapter and the one to come! Thanks to every single one of you who reviews. I read all of your comments and they make my day:)**

 **I've used this chapter to explain a little about the state of Konoha within this AU. Neji's still an asshole and Tsunade hates her job and is kind of a dick, too (although I can't help but love her still).**

 **Towards the end I've teased where the next chapter is headed towards. I want to add that I've planned where this story will go ever since I finished the third chapter so I'm not just aimlessly writing anymore.**

 **And? Any ideas what'll happen in the next chapter? Hint: The hunt's about to start!**


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

 **.**

It looked like a bird's head, Shikamaru decided, as he kept on watching the large, pure clouds pass by. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and savored the moment - one of the rare quiet ones these days.

Although he'd hoped that his schedule would clear up once he'd returned from the Land of Earth, he'd actually known that life would continue staying busy for a while. After all, Naruto Uzumaki hadn't been retrieved yet; the mission hadn't been completed.

He'd been proven right.

Just a few days after he had been made a permanent fixture in this project, he had been called to the Hokage's office once again. Without further ado, she'd told him that she'd decided to install him as the leader in the upcoming mission to find Konoha's jinchuuriki in the Land of Wind.

Shikamaru had been shocked. He'd tried to argue that he didn't have enough experience in handling such an important task but Tsunade hadn't let herself be swayed. She'd curtly explained that they needed a gifted strategist to organize and lead a relatively big team of ninjas.  
Since strategizing was his specialty, he'd already been in the pool of shinobi to choose from. The fact that he was familiar with Naruto's status as the jinchuuriki and lacked emotional involvement had sealed the deal.

He really started to hate Naruto Uzumaki. The boy only brought on work.

Even this little moment that he believed to have for himself wasn't meant to last. The shadow that fell over his face obscured his view of the clouds.

When he looked up, he was met with the familiar faces of Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame.

When Kiba sat down on the soft grass, Akamaru quickly rushed by to lay his furry head on the boy's thigh. But the dog remained alert which meant that he, like Shikamaru, felt the tension hanging in the air. These two weren't just paying him a visit for the hell of it. When Shino sat down next to his teammate, Shikamaru shifted and looked up to the clouds again.

He should talk with them so whatever problem they had could be solved. But being the lazy ass that he was, he preferred to procrastinate. Unsurprisingly, Kiba was the first one to break the silence. No one, much less an Inuzuka, was patient enough to exhaust Shikamaru's bottomless well of laziness.

"You have to put Hinata on the team," the boy blurted out.

Shikamaru merely raised one thin eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Kiba snorted and Akamaru imitated him not long after. But before he could respond, Shino said, "You don't have to play dumb any longer, Nara. That might've worked during our Academy days but we know you far better now."

Shikamaru frowned. It was rare that Shino decided to voice his opinion. So this must be some important matter to them. "Well, you sure know more than I do right now. I've got no idea what you're talking about."

Kiba rolled his eyes and Akamaru, feeling the boy's agitation, growled uneasily. "There's some big mission coming up, right?"

"A search-and-retrieve kind of mission," Shino added.

Shikamaru put on a mask of ignorance. "I'm just a regular chunin. If you want to have access to that sort of information, you'll have to ask the Hokage."

"Except you're a chunin on the cusp of being promoted to jonin," Shino countered calmly.

"Yeah," Kiba hissed, "we know that you're part of some big mission that'll bring you the promotion soon. The word's been going around since some time. Don't think we didn't notice how you keep on going in and out of Tsunade's office like it's your second home. Something's coming up, I can feel it!"

Shino, having noticed that Kiba was once again getting too passionate, carried on, "Many of us who are specialized on search and retrieval aren't getting any work right now. It very much seems like the Hokage is saving us up for a mission that is yet to come."

Finally, the much desired silence caved in and left Shikamaru to his thoughts. Their observations were spot on – not that he was surprised. Although he wasn't very close with either of them, it had always been obvious that Shino was intelligent and Kiba had a good gut instinct. Besides, ninjas were paid to be observant. It helped that they all hung around in the same circles; news travelled fast.

Remaining on his back, Shikamaru asked, "Hypothetically speaking, let's say what you've just told me is actually true. What has Hinata got to do with that?"

"We know that Hinata's number of successfully terminated missions isn't making for a pretty balance sheet," Shino answered.

"Hey," Kiba interrupted his friend, "you don't have to put it like that!"

Shino shook his head. "No. It won't help Hinata in any way if we sugarcoat this situation."

His teammate looked like he wanted to object but he bit on his lower lip and begrudgingly let Shino continue.

"She just barely scraped by in the Chunin Exams. Her success rate isn't working in her favor, either. It seems like the Hokage is losing trust in her abilities as she is getting charged with less and less missions. Because of that, she's under even more pressure from her family which only serves to diminish the little self-confidence that she has. As a result, her performance suffers even further. If now she was one of the few ninjas who weren't included in a mission that required the traits that she is supposed to specialize in, it will only bust the little sense of self-worth that she possesses."

Shikamaru had never heard Shino Aburame talk this much in one go. He must be serious about this. Finally, he brought himself to sit up and to turn towards the two boys.

"What has that to do with me? Even if I was, hypothetically speaking of course, part of this alleged mission, how would I have any influence in who makes it on the team?"

"Please do not insult our intelligence like that, Nara," Shino retorted coolly. "We might not be you but we're perceptive enough to notice when someone is the Hokage's most frequent visitor."

"Yeah! Don't take us for a fool!" Kiba growled. "You've got some sort of influence in what's going on."

"It only makes sense to put you in this position since it is your leadership qualities that have to be tested in order for you to be promoted to jonin," Shino added.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. They were good, he had to give it to them. "Let me get this right: You want me to put in a good word for Hinata so she gets to be part of a mission that she is not fit to be part of?"

Kiba stiffened. "That's not true! Hinata has the Byakugan. She's got a natural talent for tracking!"

"So has every other Hyuuga. Only can they use their kekkei genkai much better than Hinata can."

Kiba punched his fist into the earthy ground where it left a slight imprint of his knuckles. "Hinata can handle her Byakugan just well! But that asshole clan of hers is constantly pulling her self-confidence down. That's why she's barely able to function when they're near!"

Shikamaru was pretty sure that Kiba was close to jumping at his throat. He contemplated binding the boy's shadow because he knew that the Inuzuka was too fast and too close to be blocked once he attacked. But then he would to have to deal with Akamaru, Shino and the bugs.  
Still, he wasn't about to let Hinata be forced on him. No doubt had the girl potential, but that was of no use when she was too reluctant to fulfill it.

"Did you ever consider that she might just not be ninja material?" he asked calmly.

"Nara-" Shino interjected only for Shikamaru to cut him off.

"No, Aburame. You said it yourself that sugarcoating wouldn't help this situation. The unveiled truth is that Hinata doesn't have the mindset to be a shinobi – maybe she's too much of a good person for that to happen. But ninjas can't always be good people. Sometimes we have to do bad things to achieve what is best for our village. Some people can't do that and I'm not looking down on that. Not everyone has to be a ninja."

"Except Hinata has to be a ninja and you know that!" Kiba hissed. "We clan kids don't have the option to be anything else. Even you Nara – you, whose clan is known to be just about the laziest and most easy-going one in Konoha – could not choose to not be a shinobi. No one cares whether we have the right mindset."

For a moment, Shikamaru was reminded of that day he had met Naruto.

The smithy. Hot, stuffy air and dirty, coal-smeared surfaces. Naruto holding Asuma-sensei's blades into the fire; the flames' orange warmth radiating and covering his bronzed face in its glow. The blue eyes trained on the task ahead while asking him whether he liked being a ninja.  
'No, I hate it,' Shikamaru had answered him.  
Naruto had laughed and had asked why he had become a shinobi then. Shikamaru remembered his response even more clearly than the rest of that scene:  
'I was born into a ninja family. I have to do it; I've got no choice.'

Shikamaru did have the mindset to be a shinobi. But if he had been free of his loyalty towards his family and his village, he wouldn't have wanted to become one.

Shino must've noticed that Kiba's words had resonated with him. "Hinata's got no other choice. But because she's so sensitive, other people's assumptions influence her greatly. She has to think that people still believe in her."

Shikamaru contemplated it. He did have the power to put Hinata on the team. Tsunade had given him the option to assemble the shinobis that he needed since he was the one who would eventually lead and organize them in the actual course of the mission. Of course, everything had to be approved by her but convincing the Hokage that Hinata would be a beneficial addition wouldn't be that hard.  
He let the hypothetical situation run through his head. Where he would install her, whom he would team her up with, how she would react if she was ever faced with Naruto.

"No," he decided, "I can't do that. This mission could be very dangerous."

Kiba cursed. "Damn it, Nara, you don't understand-"

"No, you don't understand it, Kiba," Shikamaru interrupted, feeling his serenity quickly slipping away. The pressure to perform had been weighing on him for some time now. It only kept on getting worse as he kept on rising in rank. Everyone tried to fulfill their interests through him while he, damned be his ability to assess a situation through different perspectives, was caught in-between the webs. "I have to lead this mission."

"Don't act like you're a stranger to that position," Kiba huffed.

"No, I'm not," Shikamaru retorted coldly. "And I hate it because everything that happens in the course of a mission is in my responsibility. I'm the one who's making the decisions. If someone dies, their blood will be on my hands because I send them into a fight which I should've known they couldn't win."

Finally, there was silence. Yet Shikamaru wished the discussion would continue so he could ignore that he'd just spilled what was one of his biggest fears. He usually didn't get emotional on other people, especially not on old Academy comrades he barely had anything to do with. But Shino and Kiba had accidently hit a few of his insecurities and he hadn't been able to control himself.

"You're right," Shino finally broke the silence.

"But Shino," Kiba protested weakly.

His teammate shook his head. "No, it wasn't fair of us to come to you with these expectations. Maybe that's why you're being considered for jonin, Nara. You aren't shortsighted like the rest of us. There is only one piece of information that you lack that tampers with your perception. Hinata isn't weak."

Kiba nodded determinedly. "She could beat my ass up, I swear. You know that I wouldn't just say that about anyone. She can not only use her Byakugan for scouting but it also makes her awesome at taijutsu."

Shikamaru sighed. "Are you trying to sell Hinata as a combat specialist to me?"

"It's true," Shino claimed. "She has a very hard training behind her. She was once considered the Hyuuga heiress, after all."

Shikamaru sighed again. There was probably some truth to that but the fact remained that he had never seen Hinata even incapacitate someone.

"Tell you what?" Kiba suggested. "Join one of our training sessions and fight with her. She will be reluctant to hurt you at first but once she gets used to the situation, she'll beat your ass up."

Shikamaru raised one eyebrow. "Beating me at a taijutsu battle isn't a feat. I suck."

"Regardless," Shino argued, "you will be able to assess her abilities. Take part in only one training session. After that, decide how you want, we won't bother you anymore."

Shikamaru groaned and lay back on the ground, wishing the earth would suck him up so he wouldn't have to deal with anything anymore

 **.**

Fourteen. Never before had Shikamaru led this many people. It would be hard to organize all of them but it was the minimal number of shinobi that he needed for his plan to work out.

The plan had been formed even before the Kazekage's expected scroll with the approval to operate in the Land of Wind had arrived. Earlier this evening, Shikamaru had sat down with his father and the Hokage to clear up last details of the mission they had been discussing frequently in the last week.

Afterwards, the Hokage had called in those shinobis that would have to set out first. Neji, Lee, Aoba, Raidou, Muta Aburame and Hana Inuzuka were all people Shikamaru worked well with. Not only were many of them excellent trackers, each of them was an extremely skilled fighter, as well. They had already left an hour ago.

Now Shikamaru was preparing to deliver the speech that he had already given to the departed ninjas. He was one of the nine shinobi that would form the second part of the group which consisted of Kakashi, Asuma-sensei, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Kurenai, Gai and Genma.

After the conversation he'd had with Kiba and Shino, he'd grudgingly joined Team Eight in a training session under the pretense of trying to improve his own skills. Kurenai and Hinata had reacted with confusion, which meant that the two boys had come to Shikamaru without the women's knowledge. He was convinced that Kurenai had caught on, though.  
In the course of the training he'd found out that Hinata wasn't as incapable as he'd believed her to be. Although she'd needed some time to warm up, she'd actually worked really well in combination with her team.

Shikamaru had determined that Team Eight could be a valuable asset if they didn't come into contact with Neji. No matter how much the Hokage would order him to behave, his mere presence would bring their moral down. However, Neji's skills were needed on this mission. But since the team had to be split up, anyway, no one had to know about the other's involvement.

As Group One had to travel a longer way, they had already been sent off. Group Two was awaiting the Hokage's instructions.

When Tsunade was sure that she held everyone's attention, she spoke up. "I've assembled the nine of you to assign you a mission in the Land of Wind."

"If this is gonna become the norm, you're gonna need a bigger office," Kiba muttered. It was a little crowded in the messy room. But when both Kurenai and Tsunade fixed him with a strict glare, he wisely refrained from complaining any further.

"We not only need this many ninjas because we're going to cover a lot of ground," Tsunade responded briskly, "but also because this is a mission of great importance. Actually, your group is only one part of a team. The first group has already left the village."

Genma raised his brows. "Even bigger of a deal than I thought it'd be," he murmured. Just like Kiba and Shino had told Shikamaru before, the rumors about this project must've been widely spread.

Tsunade's expression hardened. "This is a mission we've been planning for some time and part of an endeavor that's been going on for ten years. I have decided to install Shikamaru Nara as the one who'll be leading you in the process of this operation."

Shikamaru could feel the confused eyes of Hinata, Kurenai, Gai and Genma shift towards him. Although it had been commonly suspected that he would be a big part of an upcoming mission, not many seemed to have expected him to be appointed with such an important position.  
But that was the reason why he'd only included people he knew to participate in this mission. After all, he had to give orders to shinobi that were higher in rank and he couldn't use people who'd question his instructions.

When Tsunade gave him a meaningful nod, he walked towards her desk to pick up a folder of files. Swiftly, he opened it and picked out a picture to hold it up and show it to his fellow shinobis.

"Our objective is to find and retrieve Naruto Uzumaki."

He gave the picture that they had managed to produce through Shikamaru's detailed descriptions to Genma. "So that's what he looks like nowadays," he murmured before passing the drawing over to Kurenai who was standing next to him.

The woman stared at it interestedly. "That's the first time I'm seeing his face," she commented.

Kiba broke out of the neat line and hurried towards his teacher to peek over her shoulder. "Huh? Do you know this guy?"

"He's a former citizen of Konoha," Asuma-sensei cleared up. Hinata and Shino visibly perked up but unlike their impatient teammate, they waited for the picture to be passed on.

Shikamaru discreetly looked towards Gai. He was surprised that the man hadn't shouted out anything about the power of youth yet. Usually, it was a near impossible to get the man to shut up. But at the moment, Gai was only watching his eternal rival from the corner of his eyes.

Kakashi hadn't spoken up yet. What was visible of his face was completely unreadable. Shikamaru knew that the man had had enough time to perfect that expression since he had been kept updated while Shikamaru, Shikaku and Tsunade had developed the plan.

Again, it was Kiba's passionate voice that managed to interrupt his musings. "Does that mean this guy is a nukenin?" he asked, his face mirroring the disgust that he felt. Behind him, Akamaru started to growl nervously when he sensed the boy's agitation.

Shikamaru suppressed the urge to snort. The mention of a nukenin never failed to drive a loyal shinobi up the wall.

"No," Tsunade responded. "Like I've already told you, we've been searching for this boy for ten years. He disappeared from Konoha before he even entered the Academy. That's why some of you might not be familiar with him."

"We're confident that he's currently residing in the northeast of the Wind Country," Shikamaru carried on. "We're not aware of his exact location. Asuma-sensei, Kakashi and I are going to research on his whereabouts once we arrive at the border between Wind and Rain. That way, we'll not only narrow his location down. Once he realizes that he is being tracked down, he will try to leave Wind. But by that time, we'll be awaiting him at the borders."

"What? All the borders?" Kiba wondered. "How big is the other part of the team? We're going to need a lot of people to keep track of that much ground."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Like I've already told you, our calculations suggest that he's residing in the northeast of Wind."

"But the directions he could flee towards are almost endless," Shino supported his teammate.

"I've studied the target's behavior through previous mission reports," Shikamaru countered. "I'm confident that he'll try to leave the country as soon as he finds out about our arrival. Each time he's been detected before, he ran off as fast as he could. He seems to be too impatient to wait for the threat to pass. Our presence will make him too antsy to continue staying in Wind. We'll be guarding the fastest routes that lead out of the country. He will eventually pass one of them."

Shino nodded, seeming to be satisfied with the answer he'd received.

"Um-"

Shikamaru turned to Hinata who started to stutter nervously when people's attention focused on her.

"What is it Hinata? Don't be afraid to ask any questions! They're testament of your will to improve and speak volumes about your flames of youth!" Gai exclaimed passionately. It was the usual Gai-talk but it had caught them off-guard since the man had been silent until now.

All that yelling only served to intimidate Hinata even further but she eventually managed to get her question out. "How strong is our target? Since we're not only tracking specialists, I figured…" she trailed off.

Shikamaru nodded. "Good question. We don't have any detailed knowledge of Uzumaki's abilities." Which was half of the truth. While they knew that Naruto was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, they had no idea whether he was trained in any form of combat. But most of the people, who were involved in this mission, were old enough to be aware of Naruto's special status. "However, we have to be prepared for the worst-case-scenario. Do not underestimate him but keep in mind that it isn't our goal to kill him. We have to return him to Konoha without any lasting injuries."

"No worries!" Gai shouted ardently, "The boy's still Leaf's citizen, after all! Nothing will be able to extinguish the flames of youth that are bound to burn in such a young soul!"

Everyone in the room collectively rolled their eyes. Shikamaru quickly returned to his speech before the man could grasp the opportunity to hold another cheesy, annoying monologue.

"Finding the target will be the hardest part of the mission. He is a survival specialist. After all, he has managed to live for ten years in many different climates on his own. From previous failed attempts to retrieve him, we have learnt that he is an extremely well-versed actor, as well. Although I've just showed you a picture of what he looks like, it is unlikely that we'll encounter him that way. He is a master of disguise and once he finds out that we're closing in on him, he will refrain from showing his face."

"You don't have to be a genjutsu specialist to see through a henge, though," Kurenai argued.

"You don't," Shikamaru confirmed. "And there aren't any reports of him ever using a henge before. He's using real, physical forms of disguise. Costumes, wigs, make-up."

"That doesn't matter," Kiba boasted. "All we need is his smell, right Akamaru?" The dog barked and wagged its tail. "Uh, we do have his smell, right?" his companion asked.

"Yes," Shikamaru responded. "We have managed to gather some of his belongings that he left behind over the course of the years. Since our last trail is little over a month old, we even have a fresh scent." Kiba grinned in satisfaction.

"Anyway, keep in mind that Uzumaki is extremely cunning and well-experienced in evading Konoha's ninjas. Any further questions?"

When no one answered, Shikamaru turned to the Hokage who had watched the ordeal in silence. She nodded.

"You are scheduled to leave in thirty minutes for the eighth attempt to retrieve Naruto Uzumaki. The kid's been playing with us for too long." She pulled out a bottle of sake that had been hidden between a couple of folders and filled her glass until the liquor threatened to spill over. Her tone was bitter when she said, "Brat's gonna learn that Konoha's far too clingy to allow any of her people to leave her."

 **.**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, you guys! Sorry for the late update but I was visiting a friend in Brighton (awesome city!) and didn't have time to write.**

 **Anyway, I've really thought that I'd come to the** _ **actual**_ **hunt in this chapter but it felt rushed not to explain the exact plan first (hope it didn't get too confusing). Further details of the plan will be revealed in the next chapter. I also wanted to elaborate how some of the characters would be like without Naruto's influence.**

 **If you've noticed, the teams aren't very close to each other. I felt like in canon, Naruto was the one who has brought many of them together. With him out of the equation, the teams are rather sticking to themselves.**

 **I didn't show the training session between Team 8 and Shikamaru because Hinata is not an extremely important character in this story (although she will have a purpose in the actual mission).**

 **Anyway, tell me how you liked this chapter! Your reviews make me want to update much faster:)**


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

 **.**

Hinata's eyes were trained on the flames burning in the centre of the loose circle they were sitting in. Shikamaru had told them to use the time to sleep because they wouldn't be getting another opportunity to rest soon. But no matter how hard she tried to ease herself into unconsciousness, it didn't work. It was frustrating because she could feel just how tired she was. After all, they had been running the whole day long.

But she was too anxious to relax. The constant reminder that she couldn't allow herself to fail this time wouldn't leave her alone. This was an important mission; a project that's been going on for ten years. Even if the Hokage hadn't told them of its significance, she could've guessed it by all the people who were involved in it. Kurenai-sensei, Gai, Asuma, Genma and Kakashi were all jonin. Who knew what the other part of their team consisted of.

"Shino," she called, her voice low.

"Hm?"

"Who do you think is on the other group?"

Although the majority of her teammate's expressions was hidden behind his clothes and sunglasses, Hinata knew that he was frowning. After spending so much time with him and Kiba, there was something almost instinctual about reading them.

"Since it's our objective to find and retrieve, it would make sense for them to consist of shinobi who are skilled at scouting," he replied in his monotone voice.

Kiba, apparently having listened to their conversation, turned to Shikamaru who was sitting crouched over a map. Hinata could see the brooding lines spread over his forehead. He looked exhausted.

"Hey Shikamaru, you know who's on the other group, right?"

The boy didn't even bother lifting his head. "Go to sleep," he grumbled.

Kiba didn't press the issue, maybe because Shikamaru didn't seem to be in a mood to bicker.

Hinata returned to her own musings. The target, Naruto Uzumaki, had looked like he was about their age and he had left Konoha before he even had the chance to enter Academy. Although she wondered why her village was so dead-set on finding him, she didn't dare to voice her thoughts. She wasn't in any place to question orders.

Still, it didn't prevent her from wondering. After all, finding and retrieving was, or at least should be, her specialty and she was well-versed in its theory.

There were several reasons why someone would want a person to return to their village. It went further than just eliminating a possible threat. After all, they had been explicitly told not to kill the target, but to return him in a healthy condition.  
Most of those reasons boiled down to either being someone important or possessing something of importance.  
That meant that Uzumaki could be the child of someone politically influential.  
Or, he could have some sort of object that Konoha didn't want to let go of.  
The last possibility, the one that Hinata hoped not to apply to their situation, was that their target had abilities that their village wanted to use or at least prevent getting abused by other nations.

It didn't happen very often, but every time it did, an uneasy weight settled on her chest. Hinata was glad that Neji wasn't here. After all, his own father had been sacrificed to prevent the secrets of their Byakugan from spreading. Although her cousin hated her, she wouldn't want him to experience something that'd hit so close to home.

Just a couple years ago, it had already happened. Sasuke Uchiha, a boy that she had graduated Academy with, had left their home. For some time, Konoha had tried to retrieve him because they hadn't wanted one of the last users of the Sharingan to leave the village. But soon, Tsunade had stopped believing that Sasuke would ever become anything else than a threat to their home - maybe because the boy had run to Orochimaru, the man who'd been a great danger to Konoha ever since he'd left it. Sasuke had been outlawed. The order was no longer _retrieve_ , but to _eliminate_.

A shiver ran down her spine despite being so close to the campfire. Luckily, that wasn't the case with their current target. She wouldn't be forced to kill anybody.

She looked up from the fire to watch her group members lying around the flames. Everyone but her and Shikamaru seemed to have fallen asleep. The boy gathered the map that he'd spread across the grass and put it aside.

"Shikamaru?"

Surprised, he looked up. Hinata didn't blame him. She was surprised that she had dared to speak up, as well. But ever since Shikamaru had joined her team for a training session, she had had the opportunity to grow a little more accustomed to him. He was a little grumpy at times, but otherwise nice.

"What will happen to our target after we've captured him?"

She knew she shouldn't ask. There wasn't any use in thinking of their target as a person, someone who was, just like them, a human being. They had to stay detached. She'd been told often enough that commiserating with someone made you weak. Hinata knew all too well that she was weak.

Shikamaru shrugged and lifted his head. When Hinata followed his gaze, she spotted Kakashi sitting on a branch of an old tree, distanced from their group.

"Don't know," the boy answered and lay himself on the ground to get as much sleep as he still could in the short remainder of the night. "I just hope that they'll leave me alone when this is over."

 **.**

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Asuma-sensei asked. The smile that spread over his face was so sweet that Shikamaru would've believed it to be real if he hadn't known any better.

But as it was, he did know better. Shikamaru was in no mood to deal with the Kazekage's older sister breathing down his neck; neither was Asuma-sensei.

Temari grinned that cocky grin of hers, absolutely unapologetic and elated about being able to disturb their work. "The Kazekage requests detailed information on the shinobi that will occupy the borders of our country."

"That we have given him," Kakashi retorted. An outsider wouldn't have been able to pick up on the irritation in his nonchalant posture and uncaring words. But Shikamaru, having spent a lot of time around him during the recent months, could make out the slight hint of irritation in his voice.

"Gaara wants to know the exact positioning of your people, not just some vague layout," the girl countered.

Shikamaru sighed. Dealing with Suna was always a tedious affair. "We don't know the exact positioning yet. We'll develop it as we go along."

"Then I will stay with you until you do know."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Knock yourself out."

They couldn't afford to lose any time. Until now, everything had gone according to plan. They had arrived in Wind without facing any obstacles on their way. A few hours ago, he had sent the group he had travelled with to keep an eye on the eastern borders while the other group was managing the north. But there was no concrete plan, at least not until they found out more about Naruto's whereabouts. They had to get the mission going.

"There are four inns in close distance," he explained, recalling the maps that he'd been studying during the last week. "I suggest that we split up to save time. You," he nodded towards Asuma-sensei and Kakashi, "will take the ones in the west and I'll take the two in the east. We'll meet again in an hour."

They nodded and ran off. When Shikamaru started to get moving, too, he was all too aware of the girl that had latched herself to his side.

"So what's the purpose here?" she asked conversationally.

"What, your brother hasn't told you?"

She shrugged. "He just wanted some quick information on your positioning. Don't think you're all that important."

He stared off into distance, searching for a building in the masses of sand. "Then why do you want to know?" he asked absentmindedly.

"I'm bored," she grumbled. "After all, it looks like I've gotta spend the rest of the day with you guys."

"We're looking for someone," he replied. She'd soon find out that much anyway.

Fortunately, she was prevented from asking further questions when a building with the sign of an inn came into view.

"Actually, you should be grateful I came with you," she commented in that smug tone that made Shikamaru hear the smirk in her voice.

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Having the Kazekage's sister at your side while roaming through the Land of Wind can only be of benefit."

He didn't bother replying and opened the wooden door they had arrived at to enter the building. Save for the two women who were sitting at the reception and idly chatting with each other, the room was empty.

"Welcome," the young, freckled ginger whose name badge read 'Keihi' greeted. "How can we help you?"

"A room for two?" the middle-aged woman with long, black hair suggested with a polite smile.

"Over my dead body," Temari snapped before Shikamaru could answer.

The receptionists laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry," the dark-haired woman apologized, still not being able to suppress her giggling. "But when you both entered, I just thought-"

Shikamaru squelched the urge to groan. He had no time for this. "Actually, we're looking for someone."

Finally, the women sobered up, their stares nervously slipping towards his headband. Shikamaru slouched his shoulders into a relaxed position, trying to seem as little threatening as possible to alleviate the tension that had suddenly emerged in the room. Some civilians couldn't help being anxious around ninjas, especially foreign ones.  
He slipped one hand into his breast pocket and pulled out the picture of Naruto.

"Do you remember this boy ever staying at your place?"

The older woman gave the picture a short look before shaking her head. "No, but I just started working here last month. Do you know the young man, Keihi?"

The ginger grabbed the image and- Bingo. Her face lit up in recognition. "Yeah, that guy's been here once. That's a couple months ago, though."

"What else do you remember about him? Anything could be of importance," Shikamaru pressed.

Keihi shrugged. "He didn't talk much. Honestly, I wouldn't have even remembered him if he hadn't looked so cute."

"Keihi!" her colleague exclaimed, her expression scandalized.

The girl laughed. "What? You know that I'm husband-hunting right now and I'm all about that exotic look." She inspected the picture again. "Since this place is at the border, many foreigners pass by, but I haven't seen anyone look quite like him before."

Silently, Shikamaru thanked all deities that the Yondaime had such distinctive features that he managed to pass on to his son. "Anything else that stood out to you?"

Ginger knitted her brows. "Like I said, he didn't really talk much. I tried to flirt but he didn't seem to get it. He was polite, though, gave a nice tip and left his room clean. That's all I remember other than his name."

Surprised, Shikamaru asked, "He gave you his name?"

She nodded. "It's protocol. We know that all the ninjas lie their asses off, but we only want them for bookkeeping purposes, anyway."

"What name did he give to you?"

"His first name was 'Kaimen'." She leaned her elbows on the counter and propped her chin up, her face dreamy. "I thought it was fitting because 'ocean' suited his eyes so well. The last name-"

With a huff, she began rummaging through the cupboards under the counter.

"Let's see, I think that was a couple of months ago, sometime around May…" She pulled out a worn notebook and quickly flipped from one page to the next. "Ah! There we go. Kaimen Kotei. Stayed one night, just like I remember."

Shikamaru looked at the name that her finger was pointing towards and nodded. "Thank you. You were a great help."

When they exited the building, Temari raised her brows in a skeptical manner. "So what now? Can you finally give me the layout?"

"We're not nearly done," he answered dryly and began heading towards the next inn that wasn't too far from here.

"You know that you were lucky this time, right?" the girl challenged. "Not every place will have a flirty receptionist to remember that one guy who happened to stay at their inn for a night."

He shrugged. "I know that much myself. But getting lucky once might be enough."

Temari wasn't wrong. In the next inn they visited, none of the workers recognized Naruto. Shikamaru still made sure to take their guestbook with him.

When they were finished up, he steered towards their meeting point where Kakashi and Asuma-sensei were already waiting for them.

"Any clues?" his teacher asked. "There was nothing at the places we interviewed."

Shikamaru nodded. "He's been spotted at one of our places. He stayed one night and used the name Kaimen Kotei to check in."

The two men visibly perked up. "So after passing the border, he moved to the east?"

"Looks like it. We're going to continue our search in that direction. Make sure to collect the guestbooks that the inns' owners have to maintain."

They dispersed and continued their search in two separate groups.

 **.**

When the sun was no longer at its zenith, Shikamaru and Temari fled to the shadows that a big rock offered. He was leaning against the hard, warm stone and staring at the various guestbooks that they had collected over the course of the day.

During the last few hours, they hadn't hit another jackpot like they did at their first interview, but they hadn't come out completely empty-handed either. One worker whom Kakashi and Asuma-sensei had questioned had recognized Naruto's face.

Shikamaru spread his map out and signed the places their target had been spotted at. Until now, it seemed like he'd continuously moved towards the south, never straying too far into the west. That meant that he'd try to get out through the eastern side of the country. Good, he wouldn't have wanted to run all the way towards the opposite end of the Land of Wind.

"Where are the other guys?" Temari asked, creating a faint breeze with a little fan to cool herself off. Shikamaru wished he could find a way to alleviate the heat, too, or better yet, take a nap at some place where the sun didn't shine. He was exhausted, but he still had work to do.

"Still interviewing."

She groaned. "When're you gonna be done? I want to return to Suna."

Shikamaru didn't break his gaze from the name in the guestbook he'd spotted. "Not much longer. I almost have him."

"What?" She leaned over from where she was sitting next to him to look over his shoulder. "You found something out?"

He shrugged and pointed towards the line in the book. "A small mistake from him is all that we needed."

A grin spread over her face when she read the words. "Kaimen Kotei. He's used the same name twice." Not long after, her expressions crumpled into a frown. "How'd you manage to find that so quickly? There are so many names in there."

"But there's only a certain time frame that we need to check. Then you take out everyone who stayed for longer than just one night, and the number you have to go through is manageable," he explained.

Temari picked up her fan that she'd dropped in excitement. "I get it, because he's only passing through. He's bound to break that pattern, though."

"Exactly. When the one-night-trail stops, we'll know that he's arrived." He looked up to check the position of the sun. They had enough time until it'd begin to set. "The others should be here soon."

Temari squinted. "You're right," she grumbled and rolled her eyes, "of course."

Shikamaru turned around to spot Kakashi and Asuma-sensei's fast moving figures. Even from this distance, he could distinguish the cigarette in between his teacher's lips and wondered how the man could stand smoking in this absurd heat. But when the two men arrived at their meeting point, they painted a picture of textbook ninja stoicism, adaptable to any kind of environment.

"So? You found something?" Temari demanded eagerly.

Kakashi nodded and turned towards Shikamaru to meet his gaze. "We went through all the places you've assigned us to but he's only ever been sighted in one town that's an hour away from Suna." He crouched down and pointed at the map, his finger trained on a village north of Suna.

"Nothing else?" Shikamaru checked.

When the two men shook their heads, he picked his pen up to scribble another cross on that point and use it as the centre of a circle that would roughly translate into a radius of hundred kilometres in real life. "He's somewhere in this area. He couldn't have travelled any further than that if we consider that he was able to return to the smithy in a matter of only two weeks."

Asuma-sensei sighed in satisfaction and cracked his neck. "Finally," he sighed.

"That's right around the area of Suna," Temari pointed out, her face twisted into a deep frown. "Can I see the picture of that guy again?"

He seized into the pocket of his vest and pulled the image out only for the girl to snatch it out of his fingers. Her skin was marred by lines of innermost concentration when she murmured, "I think might've seen him, I'm not sure."

"In Suna?" he questioned.

"Maybe." She shrugged and reached the picture out, but when he grasped it, Temari didn't let go. Instead, she held his stare. "Blondie over there isn't a danger to Suna, is he?"

"Not that we know of," he answered, not entirely sure whether he was telling the truth. She loosened her grip and he put the image back into its original place.

Temari inspected him for a few seconds longer before she finally broke her gaze. "So are we finally finished here, or what? I still have to report your exact positioning. I'm sure Gaara's getting impatient."

"We're finished," Shikamaru confirmed and motioned Kakashi and Asuma-sensei to sit down next to them so he could explain the further steps of their plan.

"We're predicting that the target will try to leave the Land of Wind in the fastest way possible. Considering his current position, that leaves us with four possible escape routes." He quickly drew four crosses on his map and continued, "Those routes lead to the borders of Birds, Rain, Rivers and to the port at the southeastern end of Wind."

Asuma-sensei exhaled a breath of smoke with a sigh. "Not a small area."

"It's okay," Shikamaru reassured him, "because we'll focus on the port and on the border to Birds. It's unlikely that he'll choose to escape through Rain or Rivers since they're located right next to the Land of Fire. But once he got to the sea or to Birds, we'd have a hard time tracking him down."

"We will still leave some people at Rain or Rivers, though, right?" Kakashi checked.

The team leader nodded. "Of course."

"Once he arrives at Birds, he may continue towards Earth since he knows that we are on bad terms with Iwa," the man mused.

"That's very likely," Asuma-sensei confirmed. "And something he would totally do."

"Then I want to keep track of the border to Birds," Kakashi demanded.

"Alright," Shikamaru agreed. His plans had already relied on the fact that Kakashi would want to be in charge of an area where Naruto was most likely to pass by. "Then you will meet up with the second part of the group that's waiting between Birds and Rain. Take Neji, Lee and Raidou with you to keep track of your area and tell the other three to watch over Rain."

"Got it."

Shikamaru turned to his teacher. "We are going to return to the group that we came to Wind with. Shino, Kurenai and Genma will watch over Rivers' border while you, me, Hinata, Kiba and Gai focus on the port."

When Asuma-sensei nodded in understanding, he finally turned to the only girl among them. "That's our exact positioning, Temari. Do you need anything more?"

She shook her head and stood up, managing to take one step before she stopped herself to turn around. After a short moment of hesitation, she seized her hand into the insides of her dress and pulled out a little scroll.

"Take that with you," she offered while stretching her arm out.

He raised an eyebrow before accepting the object and fitting it in-between his clothes. "What's in it?"

"Fireworks. I will be looking out for them tonight." Her face was wrinkled into a deep-sitting frown. "I've feel like I've seen that guy you're searching for, but I can't place his face. I've got a weird feeling about this. If you find him and he looks like he poses any kind of threat to Suna, light the fireworks. I'll be there."

Shikamaru nodded and turned to Kakashi and Asuma-sensei.

"Let's get going."

 **.**

Shikamaru pinched the skin of his arm, forcing his eyes to stop drooping as he watched the fiery red of the desert sunset. He hadn't gotten much sleep in the last days, and when he was up, he always had to plan their next step, keep track of their plan and watch out for his team members.

Still, no matter how many excuses existed, he had to stay alert. Everything they had worked towards lead to this point.

He briefly turned around to check whether Asuma-sensei and Gai were still on their posts near the sea. Spotting their faces in the crowd, he turned back to train his gaze on Hinata and Kiba who were keenly analyzing the people that passed by. From a bird's eye view, they were positioned like fife pips on a dice.

Off the top of his head, he'd give it thirty five percent. That's how high the probability of Naruto passing through was. Another thirty five for the Birds-border. If he escaped through these routes, they could pretty much kiss their chances of catching him goodbye.

Maybe it was better this way.

He stopped that train of thought and grabbed his walkie-talkie to get through to Kiba. Under the noise of static swooshing, the boy's familiar voice checked in.

"Yeah?"

"Have you picked up on anything?"

"No, nothing."

Shikamaru sighed and wished that Kakashi was having luck. He wasn't in the mood to chase Naruto through the port in case he decided to use a ship to get out of the country. The crowd that had gathered to get on one of the last ferries would only make this more bothersome.

Maybe Naruto had planned all of this. One didn't stand out too much amidst so many people. It was easy to drown out in a crowd.

Waves crashed against the docks as a salty breeze passed by.

Shikamaru didn't doubt Kiba's or Akamaru's ability to pick up a scent, but the constant wind and the onslaught of many different smells would make it more difficult.

Again, his gaze carried over to the boy and his dog where he noticed a girl accidentally walk into Kiba, impact causing her to tumble to the ground. Amidst the confusion, the boy must've activated his walkie-talkie because Shikamaru could hear them talking through his device now.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized, her voice neither too high, nor too deep. From the distance, Shikamaru could see her dust her short skirt off and brush the wrinkles out of her thick poncho.

Kiba just kept on staring at her in a dumbfounded way. The team leader rolled his eyes.

"Uh, no problem, I hope you're okay. Um, you didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

The girl giggled and ran a hand through her shoulder-long, blonde hair. She was trying to push her fringe out of her face that kept bothering her when another sea-breeze washed through the the port.

The whole ordeal couldn't have been going on for longer than about half a minute and Shikamaru was ready to snap at Kiba to stop his poor flirting attempts and concentrate on their task when Akamaru's loud barking beat him to it. Did that mean-?

He perked up. Naruto was here?

Before he could even attempt to move, Akamaru had jumped up, ready to tear into the strange girl's ankle before she swiftly moved aside and leaped through crowd. People started shouting in fear of the big dog that was now chasing a young woman through the masses.

Realization dawned on him.

"Shit! Guys, it's her- him- Whatever! That girl over there's our target, she smells like him!"

In a flash, Kiba and the rest of their group who'd witnessed the whole ordeal through their devices, as well, left their positions to search for the girl with the blonde hair. Only Shikamaru was rooted to his place.

Something didn't add up and he'd never been one to ignore inconsistencies. If that had been Naruto, why had he just openly walked into a Konoha ninja, someone he'd be trying his best to avoid? And why hadn't Kiba smelled him before he'd stood right in front of him? Uneasily, he skimmed over his surroundings.

Activating his walkie-talkie, he ordered, "Everyone, return to your original positions."

"What?" Gai exclaimed loud enough to hurt his ears.

"Are you sure?" Asuma-sensei checked.

"Yes, trust me with this. Everyone come back immediately."

"What about this youthful girl, I mean, Naruto-"

"Let him go," Shikamaru interrupted him. "I'll explain it to you later."

In less than a minute, Gai and Asuma-sensei had returned to their posts while Shikamaru nervously searched the agitated crowd for the two missing members of their group.

He activated his walkie-talkie, barely able to hear his own voice through the noise of the anxious people rushing by.

"Shikamaru?" Kiba asked through the unusually loud static. He had a hard time making out the boy's words.

"Where are you?" he demanded. "And where's Hinata?"

"She went after the target and dropped her walkie-talkie when someone ran into her. I think she didn't hear you calling us back. I'm looking for her but all these people getting in my way are slowing me down."

The team leader cursed. "Is Akamaru with you?"

"Yes."

"Send him back. Return as soon as you've found Hinata."

Kiba ended their conversation with an "Alright."

 **.**

Where some might've lost him already, Hinata's milky eyes were still keenly trained on Naruto Uzumaki's fast-moving form – and she was sure that the girl she was following was Naruto Uzumaki. Kiba had never been wrong before.

She frowned. Why hadn't Kiba noticed her- him - until he'd walked into him? Maybe he'd been distracted, but even Akamaru hadn't picked up on the scent until their target stood right in front of him.

No, she had to figure that out later. She couldn't allow herself to mess this up again.

With practiced moves she hurried through the masses, her eyes never leaving her target. Whatever had made him immune to Kiba's sense of smell, it didn't apply to Hinata's eyes. The Byakugan made it easy to keep track of him. His body was like a beacon in-between the people, his insides glowing brightly from all the unused chakra that was burning inside his coils.

It made her nervous to watch such a magnitude of energy, ready to overflow and explode. Hinata had seen countless chakra pathways before and this boy's body was far from normal.

Confused, she squinted, trying to make out whether she was missing something. No. He wasn't even using his energy efficiently. While his chakra had vaguely collected itself at the lower half of his body, it wasn't centered around the exact points that would propel him to move faster.

Distracted by her own concerns, she only realized that she'd lost focus when she stumbled over her own feet and crashed into the dry, earthy ground. A whimper escaped through her throat as she made herself stand up and look out for the person she'd been following.

Relief and anxiety filled her simultaneously when her eyes spotted the brightly shining figure, in far distance, but still in reach. She almost wished that he'd escaped. Hinata didn't want to confront him.

Before her doubts could fester and prevent her from moving like they so often did, she forced herself to pick up the chase. The others would probably join her soon, she only had to keep an eye on him.

But Naruto Uzumaki had stamina that she couldn't keep up with. She could feel her breathing become shallow, her lungs ache.

However, as if the universe for once wanted to reach its hand out to her, they eventually reached the end of land. There, in distance, was a cliff that mercilessly separated them from the sea. The running figure came to a halt when there was nowhere else to flee to. There was only water and the way that would lead back to Hinata.

As she watched him turn around, her second-thoughts resurfaced. That much chakra... Could she keep up with that? He'd probably beat her into the ground with breaking a sweat and, again, she'd mess the whole mission up, such an important one, too.

Her legs gradually slowed their pace until they eventually stood still. Where were the others, anyway? Hesitantly, she dared to turn around, but there was no one. She had long escaped the crowd that had wanted to reach the ships at the port. Neither Kiba, nor Shikamaru, Gai or Asuma were standing behind her.

Anxiously, she patted her jacket in search for her walkie-talkie down. Her breath hitched. It couldn't be. She had put it in her pocket not long ago, she was sure. But looking through her clothes, she realized that she must've lost it somewhere along the way; There was no other explanation.

Not knowing what else to do, she looked ahead. There stood Naruto Uzumaki gazing her self-confidently in the eyes. The blonde hair was swaying in the wind and Hinata was reminded of how well he had carried himself as a woman.  
The way he was watching her... Was it false bravado or the self-assurance of a fighter who knew what he was capable off?

Hinata didn't want to do this. She wished the earth would swallow her up and keep her inside so she could remain save from this dubious situation.  
But she had to act. She feared her father's reaction if she returned home without having done everything in her power to bring this mission to success.

After taking a shaky breath, she compelled her legs to make one step after another while willing her Byakugan to reactivate.

His chakra was just the way it was before; just as huge, uncontrollable and volatile. However, like before, he wasn't using it in a way that would suggest he was a ninja preparing for confrontation. His body, however, moved into a clear fighting stance that she couldn't recognize.

"Finally decided to come my way?" he mocked.

Hinata was too focused on his voice to answer his question. It wasn't overly deep, but it didn't reach the feminine high it did when speaking with Kiba.

"Your voice," she murmured so lowly that she was surprised he even caught it.

He shrugged, a whimsical smile spreading over his face. "Takes a lot of practice."

Hinata shook her head, trying to disperse her distracting observations. This was ridiculous. She had to bring their target down, now. There was no time for niceties and conversation. Although she didn't know where the others were, she couldn't afford to wait for them.

Clumsily, her feet pressed off the ground as she ran towards the cliff. Tension returned to his limbs as he took on defensive stance before changing his mind in the last moment to sidestep her.

She willed her chakra to run through her arms and continued on attacking him, but he avoided her hits before eventually fleeing out of her immediate reach. Gritting her teeth, she followed him, trying to get one hit to land. One hit may be all she'd need. If she could disable one pressure point, he'd have much more difficulty fleeing from her.

But it seemed like he had decided to keep her in safe distance as he continuously kept on backing off towards the edge of the cliff. She felt her breathing become more laboured as she resumed on firing one hit after another, just one hit, only one hit-

"Hinata!"

Finally! "Kiba!" she answered, dizzy with relief to hear her teammate's familiar voice from behind her. She was unfocused for one second, a single second, but that was enough time for her to overlook that they had reached the end of the cliff.

She only noticed what was going on when she was already falling. Everything happened so fast, but the fall itself felt slow. It must've been her imagination because she couldn't muster up the speed to hold onto something to keep herself up. Hinata knew she would drop, her body would be captured by merciless gravity before crashing into the harsh ocean when the fast fall came to a sudden stop.

She was breathing heavily, the beating of her heart so rough that it hurt her chest. Turning her head downwards, she saw the sea's angry waves crashing against hard, sharp-edged rocks below. But she was in the air, unmoving.

She looked up and spotted her arm that felt like a foreign limb being hold up by a sturdy hand.

"Try to climb up," Naruto prompted through gritted teeth, face slightly scrunched up in effort to keep on holding on to her.

"Why-"

"Could you get up before I let you drop into the sea?" Naruto interrupted, his mouth twisted into an irritated frown. "If you keep on hanging there, I'll let go."

Her breath hitched but not soon after, she recollected her thoughts and brushed her feet against the rock of the cliff to look for something to support her legs. Having found a protruding area, she tested it before leaning her weight on it and heaving herself upwards with the help of Naruto's arm.

She was on her knees, trying to understand what had just happened when Kiba arrived by her side.

"Hinata!" he called, his hands landing on her shoulder and running over her back as if to check whether she was really there. "You okay?"

After a moment of hesitance, she nodded and met her friend's eyes. "I'm fine," she answered a little breathlessly.

He relaxed and turned towards Naruto who was standing at the edge of the cliff while watching her with a mildly concerned expression.

"Thank you," Kiba sighed, his eyes shining with honest gratitude as he stood up. "You're really not that bad of a guy."

Incredulity filled Hinata as she saw her teammate's body move into its familiar fighting stance.

"So don't take this too personal," Kiba said in an apologetic tone when his arm stroke out.

This time, Naruto wasn't fast enough to escape.

 **.**

Shikamaru was so focused on his surroundings that he almost startled when his walkie-talkie made its high-pitched howling sound that signed that one of his team member's was trying to contact him. He picked it up.

"Shikamaru?"

"Kiba? You've reached Hinata?"

"Yeah, she's all good. Uninjured."

"The target?"

Silence. Kiba cleared his throat. "About that..."

He sighed. "It was a shadow clone, right?"

Kiba choked. "What? How'd you know that?"

"I'll tell you later. Hurry up and return to your posts."

The boy at the other end of the line groaned. "Alright. We're on our way."

 **.**

 **A/N: Sorry for the little hiatus. I was feeling lazy and worked on another story so it took me some time to get this out. **

**Enough talk, how did you like this chapter?  
Regarding what happened, I want to emphasize that this isn't going to become a NaruHina or ShikaTema story. I've stated before that this isn't going to contain any romance and I'm sticking to it.  
Another thing, From this point on, we're going to get much more Naruto. Until now, I was writing a lot about what's going on in Konoha and we got more of an outside view on him (which I love, I'm a whore for Outsider POV). But soon you'll get to read more from Naruto's perspective. **

**Hope you're looking forward to it!**


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

 **.**

The wind was no longer mild, but chilly. The nights in the desert were cold. Shikamaru sighed as he watched the last ferry of the day depart from the port. Tiredly, he ran a hand through his hair and massaged his tense scalp. The tie tore and his hair fell around his shoulders.

"We're finished!" There was no need to use the walkie-talkies anymore. The port was silent. Everyone, save for the five members of their team, had departed.

 **.**

It was in the late afternoon when Temari finally arrived. Gaara looked up from his desk when the door clicked shut and waited for her to speak up.

"I've got the info you requested," she said and reached a map out to him.

He accepted it and spread it out on top of the neatly ordered sheets of paper he yet had to work through. Even though the map showed him what he'd been dreading, he kept his face neutral. Gaara didn't know how they'd done it, but they'd found out that Naruto was residing in the eastern part of the country. The posts that were positioned around that area proofed that much.

Naruto should just stay in Wind and wait this out. No good could come out of this rash escape attempt. But Gaara knew he wouldn't be able to convince him. His friend was simply too stubborn for his own good.

"Thank you. You should take a rest now," he advised, his words a subtle dismissal.

But Temari remained rooted to her place, her face a thoughtful frown.

"There's something on your mind," he remarked.

She nodded. "You know they're searching for someone, right?"

"A civilian that left Konoha, yes."

Gaara watched his sister nibble on her bottom lip. She was nervous. "I've got a bad feeling about this," she admitted.

"Any particular reason?" he asked, the tone giving nothing away.

She shrugged. "Intuition. I feel like I've seen the guy they're looking for before. He seems familiar. You'd feel the same if you'd seen his picture."

Willing himself to refrain from stiffening up, he answered, "Maybe." He leaned back into his chair while keeping eye-contact with Temari. "I will watch out for anything unusual tonight if that will ease your mind."

A bright smile spread over his sister's face. "Really?"

Gaara nodded. "I'll be alert the whole night through."

 **.**

The next time Gaara entered the hotel room, all the mess from the past weeks had vanished. It had always been this way, he remembered. Naruto wasn't a particularly tidy person until the day of departure arrived. Then, everything was cleaned up until the place was void of any evidence suggesting he'd ever been there.

"You've got it?" Naruto asked. There was something strangely eager in his voice, almost as if he was looking forward for what was to come. An odd mix of excitement and paranoia.

"Yes. And I also know where they've decided to position their guards."

Naruto sighed heavily. "Bad news?"

Gaara chucked him the rolled-up map that Temari had given him. "You have to change your plans. They're focusing on the exact route you wanted to take."

Lines spread over Naruto's face while he inspected the map. " _Want_. I'm still taking that route."

Gaara shook his head, exasperated with his friend's thick-headed demeanour. "This is just stupid. If you're not going to stay here, at least don't try to get caught on your way out."

Naruto shrugged his concerns off and Gaara was reminded of how childish his friend could be. No matter what he'd say, it'd be of no help. He was too mulish to get through.

"Just leave the country through its western borders. They've got no posts there. Our knowledge gives us a head start."

"And then what?" Naruto scoffed. "Keep on running until they catch up with me?"

His face froze up, and when he reluctantly met Gaara's stare again, his eyes was apologetic. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bitch at you."

"It's okay. We're both a little stressed."

Naruto nodded. "I want to get out through the sea route to get it over and done with. Once I've reached the next port, there's no way they can trace me any further."

Gaara decided not to press the issue any further and reached out the plastic bag that he'd brought with him. Naruto raised his brows in surprise when he pulled out a plain beige dress.

"Not bad. Not bad, at all, Gaara. I was afraid you'd come up with something garish but I should've known that you'd keep it subtle."

Gaara decided to forego discussing over his fashion choices. Instead, he sat down on a nearby chair and watched his friend pull out two pairs of shoes, a white blouse and a dark blue skirt out of the bag. Naruto sceptically pursed his lips as he inspected the last item. "A little short, but it'll do."

Without further ado, he created a shadow clone. "Get yourself ready," he ordered.

There was something seamless about how he went about all of this, as if he was all too practiced in this routine.

After checking that no one on the streets was paying attention to their hotel room, Naruto opened the window and took a box in. In it, lay tufts of dry, platinum-blonde hair.

"Is that a wig?"

Naruto nodded.

"Please don't tell me you've made that yourself." Because where would he get a wig from when Gaara had been his only connection to the outside world for the last weeks? He couldn't have had it before that, or else he'd worn it while travelling to Suna and wouldn't have bothered shaving his head bald.

Naruto's lips shifted into a lopsided grin. He beckoned the doppelganger to step closer and put the wig on.

"How did you do that?" Gaara asked, genuinely curious.

"I've kept my hair after I've shaved it off and-"

"You did what?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I've kept my hair. Wasn't the first time I needed it afterwards. Then I took some nude fabric and sewed every strand on, fixed some rubber around the edges and-"

He stopped his explanation when Gaara met his eyes with a dead-pan expression. "Why didn't you just tell me to buy a wig?"

He shrugged. "Those that are made out of real hair are hard to find. The fake ones got an artificial sheen on them and smell like plastic."

Gaara sighed and inspected the doppelganger. "It's a different colour," he noticed.

Naruto nodded. "That's what I put it outside for. If you lace the strands with lemon juice and let them wait in the open sun for some hours, it'll bleach the hair."

"You have much more knowledge on all of this than you should."

Naruto tipped his head to the side. "That's also what you got the coffee for."

"What do you mean?" Gaara remembered bringing over large amounts of instant coffee powder but he didn't see how that had anything to do with the wig.

Naruto grinned, grabbed his wrist and led him towards the lone desk in the room. A plastic box had been placed on it. In it lay- Gaara couldn't refrain from scrunching his nose up in disgust when he saw a mass of _something_ drenched in what smelled like stale coffee. His friend pulled out the soggy mess and Gaara finally realized that it was another wig.

"This is a really bad idea," he said quietly.

Offended, Naruto spluttered, "It's not just an idea! I did this before and it works!"

"Maybe you should stop spending so much time alone if you're going to come up with something like this."

His friend rolled his eyes. "Stop nagging. I've told you, it works. If you keep the hair in the coffee for long enough, its colour changes into a light brown. Plus, it dissolves my scent and cloaks everything in a smell of coffee."

"I could've gotten you some hair dye, you know."

Naruto crossed his arms. "I know what I'm doing. The smell of ammonia that's in chemical hair dye would be too suspicious."

Gaara sighed and sat back onto the chair. He wanted to respect his friend's experience concerning these issues, but his ideas seemed too odd to confidently rely on them. "Tell me if you need my help."

Naruto shrugged, took the plastic box and went to the bathroom. Gaara could hear him dry the wet wig. When the boy returned to the main room, he had light-brown, straight hair that reached his chin. It didn't even look half-bad. Actually, it looked pretty good.

The heavy smell of coffee passed by when Naruto rushed to his doppelganger to inspect the haircut it'd given itself while its creator had been in the bathroom. "A little uneven but it'll do," he muttered critically, ran a hand through the shoulder-long tresses and brushed the bangs out of its face.

Gaara lost focus over the rest of the disguise process. All he knew is that by the end of it, the original Naruto had slipped into the beige dress and flat sandals, while the doppelganger had put on the blouse and the skirt. The heels that it wore made its legs appear even longer in the short skirt. Somehow, he didn't make the clothes look out of place. It was probably due to Naruto having a slight built and not being extremely tall. The fact that the garments were a number or two too big, helped.

"Did you shave your legs?"

"You gotta commit to the role," Naruto admitted. "You got the perfume?"

Gaara nodded and pulled the bottle that he'd wrapped into plastic out of his pocket. Naruto accepted it and checked the label. "Vanilla? Good choice."

He took a deep breath and looked around the room as if to remember what else to do. "Make-up," he said. "We should be almost finished then."

Gaara couldn't make out what he did after that. They were too many brushes, creams and powder palettes to keep track of. But by the end, he could tell that the doppelganger had rounder, bigger looking eyes with dolly lashes attached on them. Its nose was somehow pointier, its lips and cheeks in a matching pink.  
The original's eyes were almond-shaped and slant. The cheekbones were prominent and the nose slimmer-looking than before, the lips a subtle peach.

"I see how you managed to escape Konoha's grasp for so many years," Gaara chuckled. "You're my best friend and I wouldn't recognize you on the street."

Naruto laughed. "I'm good, aren't I?" The laughing came to a sudden halt and the boy reached to his chest as if he had trouble breathing.

Gaara stood up. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," he huffed. "It's just the corset. Still a bitch to get used to."

Gaara sighed. "I'm concerned," he admitted.

Naruto straightened himself up. "There's nothing else I can do." He threw a thick poncho that was supposed to hide the lack of breasts towards the doppelganger.

"You could remain here until the danger's passed over," Gaara pressed.

His friend shook his head vehemently. "I can't stay in this room for one day longer. There's no way I'm waiting this out like a rat they've chased into a corner. I gotta get out now."

"You're playing with fire," he warned.

"You know I've got a plan."

"One that might fail. Even if you send your doppelganger to cause some chaos, they'll try to find you through your scent."

Naruto furrowed his brows and grabbed the map that he'd laid aside. "I haven't seen Kakashi around the port," he remarked as he unwrapped it.

"You're on first-name-basis now?" Gaara asked, his tone unimpressed and curious at the same time.

Naruto raised a brow. "The guy's been chasing me through the world for ten years. If we're not on first-name-basis, I don't know what we are."

Gaara leaned back. "He never struck me as such a persistent man. Do you know what his motivations are?"

His friend shrugged as he inspected the map. "So who's the one doing the scent-searching if Kakashi's looking over Birds?"

"Kiba Inuzuka. He has a dog with him."

"Hm." He lay his head to the side. "Is he, by chance, a little gullible?"

"I don't know them that well. I wouldn't recommend getting close to anyone. But if you absolutely have to, Inuzuka and the girl are your best targets. Stay away from the rest, especially from Shikamaru Nara. He may not be the physically most proficient, but he will see through your cover. I'm suspecting that he's the one who's after this whole ordeal in the first place."

Naruto nodded, lost in his own thoughts. "Yeah, he's the one who started this all."

"But even if the dog-boy isn't the most intelligent member of the group, he's got the sensitive sense of smell that he'll sniff you out with. A coffee-wig and some vanilla-perfume aren't going to help with that."

"Relax," Naruto placated, "I've planned ahead."

He walked in front of the mirror and brushed some stray wrinkles out of his dress. "You noticed that I lost weight?"

"Is this another diversionary tactic?" Gaara countered sceptically.

"No. Just the result of my new diet. Raw food."

Gaara sighed. "I don't know what one thing has to do with the other, but continue."

"Body scent," Naruto explained, "is partly made up through your genes, but also determined through your lifestyle. What you put into yourself, you expel in some way or the other. I've only been eating fresh, plant-based foods in the past weeks. Vegetables, fruits, nuts. The diet flushes the toxins out of your body. Your smell changes."

The way Naruto explained it, it made sense, but neither of them had a particularly sensitive sense of smell to test that theory. Who knew whether this actually worked. "Have you tried this out before?"

"How do you think I've been keeping Kakashi's mutts off my tail?"

Gaara sighed. "So what's the plan?"

"The doppelganger and I are going to go to the port. Since my scent is diminished, they shouldn't be able to pick up on it. But the doppelganger's wig should still smell a little like me. While the clone attracts their attention and leads them away from the port, I'm going to get on the ferry."

It sounded simple. Gaara knew that it was anything but. "What will my role be?"

Naruto shook his head. "You've already done enough and I'm thankful for-"

"Since when do we thank each other, Naruto?" Because they weren't like that. They didn't help each other so that the other could owe them one. They weren't best friends because of some cheap level of debt. "You know that you can rely on me."

Naruto's face crumpled into a grimace. "I know it too well. That's what I'm afraid of," he confessed. "I don't want them to know that you're helping me."

Gaara shook his head and pressed his lips into a thin line. The thought of just standing on the sidelines was unbearable.

"Any more tension between Suna and Konoha, and this might go out of hand," Naruto reminded. But the Kazekage didn't need a reminder of the rocky political climate between the two hidden villages.

"At the first sign of trouble, I'll be there."

 **.**

Naruto felt the sun prickle on his skin. It had been way too long since he'd been out in the open. He briefly debated buying some sunglasses, but hiding his face in such an apparent way would make him look suspicious at the port. Sweat ran down his back in steady drops. He could only hope that his face wouldn't start to sweat, too, or else his make-up would be ruined.

Finally, the woman he'd been waiting for passed the corner, in her arms a stack of files that she had to bring to the Kazekage. Naruto had seen her often enough to know that she was a secretary working in Gaara's office.

Naruto straightened himself up and passed the corner he'd been watching the streets from. A polite smile graced his face as he asked her for the way to the hospital. When she turned around to point into the appropriate direction, she didn't notice that Naruto slipped an envelope between her files.

He thanked her, bid his goodbyes, and picked his stride up. His eyes met those of his doppelganger's.

"You done?"

He took out the bottle of perfume and sprayed it on his neck. "Yeah."

 **.**

The plan worked until it didn't. Eventually, not even Naruto had a back-up plan to fall back on. It was all Shikamaru Nara's fault.

At the beginning, everything was going fine. Only the sea wind was working against them, blowing his doppelganger's scent into the opposite direction from where the dog-guy was standing.

Naruto had checked up on the ninjas' positions. It wasn't hard to pick up on them when their headbands were gleaming under the searing sun. Also, he could tell a fighter when he saw one. Their tense stances and searching eyes told him that they were awaiting him.

His stare slipped to Shikamaru Nara. He looked just like the day he'd met him for the first time; a little more tired maybe. If it hadn't been for him, Naruto would probably still be mending swords at the forge in Kinzoku's smithy.

"We have to do something now," his doppelganger mumbled under his breath while acting interested in the cold drinks that a guy was trying to sell. "We can't wait until the wind works in our favour, or we'll miss the ferry."

Naruto understood the implication. Although he had counted on something like this to happen, he remained hesitant. "Confronting them is a risky move. If they catch you right away, they'll blow your cover and you won't be able to buy me enough time to get on the ship. Be careful."

The doppelganger brushed one hand over its skirt before it turned around to walk in the direction of the dog-boy. Naruto willed himself to take deep breaths and remain calm as it closed the distance to its target.

When it 'accidently' walked into the guy, they both fell to the ground and successfully managed to gather the other team members' attention. A flirty smile graced the clone's lips as it began to talk to the boy. Time seemed to slow down, the seconds trickling by like syrup while he waited for the glimmer of recognition to finally emerge in the guy's eyes.

He startled when instead, the sound of loud barking broke through the noise and a large dog lunged after his doppelganger's ankle. It'd been a close call and Naruto held his breath until the clone managed to get into safe distance.

The dog and his owner went after it first. Then the guy in green, the smoker, the girl and-

His hand formed a tight fist. Why wasn't Shikamaru leaving? The boy stood unmoving, his face set into a broody frown. Then he lifted his walkie-talkie up and said something that Naruto couldn't hear from the distance. When he looked up and searched through the crowd, Naruto was careful not to turn around too quickly and raise any suspicions. To be safe, he asked the merchant to sell him a bottle of orange juice he'd been pretending to look at for a while.

While passing through the crowd, he witnessed how the two men who'd left not a minute ago, returned to their original positions. The big dog joined them shortly later.

Naruto bit back the urge to curse. They, no, Shikamaru Nara had caught on to his plan. He was ready to strangle that guy.

There was no way he could risk going on that ship now. He was pretty confident in his disguise, but if he passed by, they'd get a much closer look at him. If he did one mistake, or Shikamaru Nara pulled another trick out of his ass, he'd be done. Especially the two older men would be impossible to escape from. He'd just seen with his own eyes how fast they were.

A change of plans was in order. Either he went to a town farther away from here and waited until they left their posts, or he chose a whole different route to escape with. He mulled it over.

Rivers and Rain, being right next to the Land of Fire, was out. That left Birds. But they had plenty of guards positioned up there, one of them being Kakashi. If there was one person who knew how to look through his disguise, it'd be him. He had as much experience chasing Naruto, as Naruto had fleeing from him.

He uncapped the bottle and drank some juice while slowly steering away from the port. He didn't want to wait in the inner part of the country and he couldn't escape through the nearby borders. That only left the borders that were more than a day of travel away.

If they caught him on his way, it'd be the end. Not only were some of them much faster than him, but they also came in bigger numbers. Naruto could only hold them off for so long.

But when had the odds ever worked in his favour before? Exactly. And he was still alive and free despite everything. Naruto would work with what he got, he always did.

He looked up. The last remains of sunlight would soon vanish. He had to hurry and use the impeding darkness while he still could. At this period, it'd be easier to move without catching anyone's attention.

In less than ten minutes, he'd left the port and was back in the desert. His feet sank into the ground and he couldn't understand why, after all these years, he still had so much difficulty moving in this terrain. These stupid, thin-strapped sandals certainly weren't helping the issue.

He cursed, pulled out a scroll and unsealed it. The dress, the damned corset and the sandals were discarded in favour of some simple pants, a shirt, a jacket and sturdy boots. After debating whether he should keep the wig on, he decided to take it off, too. Now that the feminine disguise was half-gone, there was no meaning in keeping it on. Besides, the smell of stale coffee was starting to make him nauseous. While he was at it, he decided to get rid of the make-up, too, until he, Naruto Uzumaki, was the only one left. No doppelganger, no disguise.

Mentally picturing the map he knew by hard, he debated where to go. He somehow had to reach the Land of Vegetables without being spotted by the guards who were looking over the nearby borders. The countries were right next to each other, so there was a considerable risk.

The route he had to walk was clear in his head. Naruto had passed through so many places, he'd long become an expert on several countries' geography.

However, this would've been so much easier if he'd just gotten on a ship. Now he had to trample through the sand for two days before he could even attempt to leave this land. Maybe he should pass through Suna on his way and check up on Gaara to let him know that he was okay.

It was a fast moving journey. In the past, he used to get lost in this place because the area only consisted of sand and even more sand and an occasional rock if he was lucky. But he'd learnt not to worry over his never-changing surroundings in order to focus on his end goal. He'd visited Gaara often enough to know his way to Suna.

In the course of the night, the mild wind and sparkly skies lulled him into sleepy drowsiness. The moon was only a thin sliver, barely giving any light to illuminate the void desert. There were no people, no animals, no plants and no buildings to distract him from the mind-numbing boredom.

He jumped in surprise when a loud, booming noise rang through the air and shook the ground underneath him. Naruto could feel the impact run from the sand into his body. An explosion.

After remaining still for some moments, trying to understand what just happened, he gathered his thoughts. It'd seemed like the blast had come from the direction of Suna. Maybe he should change his destination. If this was something that Konoha had orchestrated, it might be a trick to catch his attention and lure him into their hands.

But Gaara was in Suna. What if something was happening and he needed his help? Naruto wasn't a professional fighter. Most of what he knew, he'd learned on the street from other street urchins. Still, he'd rather die in a fight than leave his friend to struggle on his own. At the very least, he could serve as a distraction for the enemy and buy some time.

Just as he'd started to run again, another blast echoed through the air. But this time, Naruto kept on running confidently in the direction of Suna. The explosions kept up, one more volatile than the last as he gradually came closer to the hidden village.

He twitched when he felt the ground underneath him shift. However, it wasn't the impact, but some active force moving the sand away. There was only person who could that.

"Gaara."

Suddenly, he was glad that he hadn't been able to escape today. Something was definitely going on and his best friend was involved in it. Naruto had to help where he could.

Something white flashed through the sky. He squinted. It hadn't been star, it'd been far too big. Just as he was beginning to believe he'd imagined it, the big white mass emerged again and this time, Naruto managed to keep his gaze on it.

It was a giant bird. Weird, he'd never seen that sort of animal in the desert before.

He didn't have the chance to think about it for too long. A rush of sand rocketed from the ground and began chasing the bird through the air. Naruto searched the dunes, but Gaara wasn't anywhere to be seen. Only when he lifted his head up again, did he spot his friend standing on a platform of sand in the sky, his stance even more rigid as usual.

Naruto's gaze shifted back to the bird. It was hard to tell in the dark of the night, but it seemed like there was a figure sitting on the animal's back. The explosions had to be coming from them. There was a fight going on and Gaara hadn't won yet. Strange.

An age-old heat ignited inside him. It was the instinctual urge to jump into a fight without a care about the consequences. He'd always been impulsive and it'd gotten him into trouble many times before. Even now, at sixteen years old, he hadn't completely learnt how to keep his urges under control.

But no matter how much he recklessly wanted to, he could hardly reach a battle field in the sky. He didn't have any fancy jutsu or special abilities to help him out. Everything he'd ever been talented at, had been Fuinjutsu.

He didn't understand it. Although he'd harboured dislike for all ninjas ever since he left Konoha, he had tried to learn their practices just because they were an advantage to have when you're living a life on the run. He'd stolen scrolls and even asked people who'd once went to Academy for advice, but it'd been of no use. He'd failed at the most simplest exercises. The only things exempt from that, had been the Shadow Clone Jutsu and Fuinjutsu.

While clones were incredibly helpful, he could hardly use Fuinjutsu half of the time. There was too much planning, information gathering and preparing involved to use them spontaneously in combat. It simply wasn't his style and that's why he failed to grasp why he'd been such a natural at learning it.

Now, too, all that knowledge was of no help. So when he watched the bird's great wings sway in a clear attempt to prepare for another attack, he did something he hadn't done in a long time: call attention to himself.

"Hey, bastard!"

The bird changed its direction until it could fix its bead-like eyes on him. It looked more like a stuffed animal than a real, living being.

"Yeah, you! Come down, you coward!"

Faint laughter filled the air. "I've got no clay to waste on you, kid," shouted the man riding the bird.

"Naruto!"

Gaara's serene composure was broken, his eyes widened in pure shock. The sand platform collapsed in itself and he slid it down until he stood by Naruto's side while trying to keep track of the bird that continued on swerving above them.

"What are you doing here?"

Naruto shrugged. "The plan failed," he admitted.

"You've got caught?"

"No. I just couldn't distract them for long enough to get on the ship. They've never even seen me."

Gaara relaxed slightly.

"What about you? What's going on here? Who's the guy on the bird?"

His friend focused all his attention back on his opponent. "I don't know," he answered, his tone a little frustrated. "I wanted to check whether you're doing okay. On my way to the port, I've encountered them. They seem to have been looking for me."

Naruto continued on searching the sky. "They?"

"The other one's on the ground. You can't see him from this distance in the dark. He hasn't done anything until now, but his partner has been causing me enough problems. Fortunately, I've met them before they could enter the village. At least, Suna isn't at risk of being harmed."

They cautiously watched the bird decline and land on the ground to allow the man dismount it. While he slowly approached them, Naruto could distinguish another person walking next to him.

"Naruto, you have to go. I will hold them off in the meantime."

"You better not be serious," he growled.

Anybody else wouldn't have spotted a change in Gaara's demeanour, but Naruto could see the worry in his friend's eyes. "I know that you don't want to leave, but there's nothing you can do. I have to concentrate on fighting them."

And although Gaara hadn't meant it that way, Naruto had understood him too well. At this moment, he was nothing but a burden. He was good at evading his enemies, not fighting them. Especially not against ones who could last in a fight against Gaara. Still, he couldn't turn around and leave.

"I've got my seals."

"They don't help you in a battle if you didn't already have the time to prepare a specific seal for a specific opponent," Gaara dismissed.

"Those unhelpful things almost rotted your arm off. I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you."

"That was pure luck."

"Are we honestly going to discuss that now?"

A thunderous boom went off right next to his ear. Naruto spitted the sand out that had protected them from another explosion.

"Be careful," Gaara grumbled. "The blonde's the one who's been causing all these explosions. He builds bombs out of clay figures."

Naruto nodded and turned back to their opponents. Now that they'd come closer, he could see that the man walking next to the young, blonde boy was a short, crookbacked man. They were both cloaked in dark robes with red clouds on them.

The boy lifted his hand and adjusted his eye-scope that his long hair had been hiding. He laughed loud enough for them all to hear.

"You were right, Master Sasori! That really is the brat that Itachi and Kisame have been searching for. I can't wait to see their faces when we arrive at the hideout with two jinchuuriki in tow, yeah!"

Naruto knitted his brows. "What are you talking about?" When he looked at Gaara, his friend's face was stiff and unreadable.

"No need to look around, yeah. I was referring to you, Kyuubi brat."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Has one of those explosions messed up a few screws in your head?"

The boy sent his hunchbacked partner a nasty glare when the man let out an almost silent chuckle and said, "I like him."

The boy scoffed. "I'm going to deal with the fox on my own. Keep the Kazekage off my back, Master Sasori."

His partner had barely grunted when an explosion went off right beside Gaara and Naruto. Before they had a chance to recover, another chain of explosions followed. Gaara's sand was the only barrier that shielded them from the impact. Without resting itself back to the ground, it rushed after the boy who'd jumped on his bird's back again.

Naruto huffed. This guy wanted an explosion? He could have one. He grabbed a scroll from the inside of his jacket and unsealed the stored knives that he'd forged himself while he'd been working in the smithy.

When the bird descended, he took aim and stroke out. A brief sense of satisfaction filled him as a chain of boisterous, cracking sounds rang through his ears and the sky was filled with fire and smoke. It vanished when the bird emerged out of the fumes, its owner on its back. The cloak was dirtied, the hair in disarray, but otherwise, the boy seemed to be doing fine.

A grin was plastered on his face as he said, "Alright, that was a sneaky trick. I didn't expect any seals to be engraved into the steel. I can always respect a person who likes a nice explosion." He laughed and jumped off the bird's back. The knives that'd just been aimed at his direction were held between his fingers. "Not so shoddy, yeah. Maybe I'll keep them, for times like these when I'm low on clay."

"You do that," Naruto quipped and let the knives explode again. The seals would work until an explosion would crack the engravings. But when the smoke cleared, there was only a mass of clay to be seen. A doppelganger.

He felt the skin on the back of his hand tingle. His breath hitched when he spotted a white spider climbing up his arm. Another explosion went off and this time, Naruto wasn't able to escape it. Although he'd shaken the spider off, he hadn't managed to get himself into safe distance.

He used the initial few seconds after the explosion to get out of the smoke cloud. He needed a clear field of vision. As he coughed, the numbness that'd allowed him to move so quickly died down, and introduced the pain of burned and shredded flesh to him.

He checked himself, just to be sure, and was relieved to confirm that all limbs were still at their place. The arm the spider had been crawling on was bleeding, though. The skin coating it had been blazed off, leaving only the pink, vulnerable flesh behind. It was gross but Naruto was used to seeing his injuries. He stood up and shifted his weight onto his left leg and gasped silently. It might be sprained.  
When he lifted his hand to check why the hell his scalp was burning so badly, he realized that almost half of his hair had been hinged off.

"Naruto!" He felt Gaara's gourd press against his back.

"I'm alright," he answered without bothering to turn around. He had to focus on his battle.

"You're injured," his friend persisted.

"Nothing I haven't experienced before."

A surge of wind blew through the desert, cleared the last remains of smoke, and revealed the boy who'd caused this whole mess.

"You've got quick reflexes, yeah." Naruto tensely watched him put his hands into the bag that was strapped around his waist. "I gotta ask, though - Why don't you just use the power of the bijuu? Your friend's doing it, too."

Naruto scoffed. "You honestly think I'm a jinchuuriki?"

The boy knitted his brows and turned towards his partner who- wait, who was that guy? The old, hunchbacked man was gone. In his place, stood a young, red-haired boy in the same cloak. "The man from before was a puppet," Gaara mumbled. "This is the actual him."

"Hey, Master Sasori! You sure that's him, right?"

"I've told you, Deidara. Don't make me repeat myself."

Blue eyes met each other again. "You heard it, yeah."

"It's not your job to discuss with them," said his partner, his voice managing to sound venomous although it was oddly monotone. "I don't want to be late, so hurry up."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "We'll be returning with two jinchuuriki, he'll understand. Besides, this is entertaining."

Confusedly, Naruto interjected, "You think I wouldn't notice if there was a chakra monster living inside of me? I'm not a jinchuuriki."

The smirk didn't slip from Deidara's lips. "You sure? Hey, how about you ask your friend? He looks a little paler than usual, hm?"

Naruto spared Gaara a short glance. To his surprise, his friend really did seem a little uneasy. "What is he talking about, Gaara?"

"I'm not entirely sure," he answered lowly.

"What do you mean, _entirely_?" Naruto questioned. He shook his head. This was ridiculous. But why was Gaara acting so strangely?

"This is not the right time to argue."

"Yeah, I agree. The right time would've been right after you'd found something out. You did find something out, right?"

"The notion has crossed my mind," his friend admitted.

"You have got to be kidding me. This is a joke, right?"

"Like I said, I didn't know anything for sure," Gaara answered, his voice unusually meek. "Shukaku's told me, but you know that he's a rotten liar."

It was absurd. Of course, it was false. Shukaku had helped to push Gaara to the brink of insanity with his lies, they'd be stupid to trust a word he says. None of these allegations made sense.

 _Didn't they?_

Naruto remembered Konoha. People whispering behind his back with hate and fear filled eyes. The similarities between his and Gaara's past. The present – Konoha's refusal to let go of him.

Bullshit. If there was a bijuu residing inside of him, there would be a seal maintaining the cage. He would've noticed if there had been a seal on him. Naruto may not be exceptionally talented, but he knew his way around Fuuinjutsu.

Deidara laughed loudly and even Sasori's marble face expressed amusement. "This is comedy gold!"

Before Naruto could question his friend any further, a puppet came to life and shot forward. But before it could reach either of them, the sand swallowed it up and tore it apart. Deidara snickered. "The Kazekage's making your dolls look pretty old, Master Sasori. I'd suggest an explosion."

"You're talking although all you've managed to do is give that clueless weakling a new haircut?"

Deidara scoffed and put both hands into his bag. "Whatever. Let's finish this, yeah."

Naruto produced five doppelgangers, flipped out two short, thin-bladed tantos, one hand holding each, and focused on his opponent. He didn't only use weapons to attach seals on, after all. He liked these tantos, they were handy and, with a little practice, felt more like an extension of himself than anything else.

Nonetheless, they'd be of no use if he didn't come close to his opponent. Deidara could evade his explosives, but his own clay explosives were much more difficult to escape from since they could actually move on their own regard. If he wanted to win this, he had to be quick and catch him off-guard.

Deidara stretched his arms out, his palms facing flat forwards. With grotesque fascination, Naruto watched tongues slither out of the mouths inside his hands. The mouths opened wide and spurted clay out. At first, Naruto thought that Deidara had messed something up because the white mass only lied limply on the ground. But soon, the clay built itself up until it formed a vaguely humanoid figure.

"Let me show you what art is!"

The figure wobbled forwards, but Naruto sidestepped it and sliced it with his tantos horizontally where an actual human being's gut would've been. The clay parted into two separate masses and splattered onto the ground. It didn't remain there, though. Just after a few seconds, it rebuild itself, this time into two figures, and attacked him again, only to be held off by his doppelgangers. Again, the clay parted, formed itself up, and multiplied his opponents.

If this guy wanted to fight with numbers, Naruto could recuperate. A few hundred doppelgangers appeared with a single hand seal.

Deidara smirked. One of the clay figures went off, caused a mid-sized explosion, and took half of his doppelgangers with it. The guy was playing with him.

And Naruto wasn't making much progress. If he wanted to end this fight, he had to take care of the source of the problem and destroy those freaky mouths.

He spared a short glance to Gaara who was still busy fighting the red-head coordinating a puppet. No, he had to develop a plan without involving his friend in it.

Something quick and foolproof to get rid of those arms. He chuckled. Alright.

He surged forward with five other doppelgangers, evaded the clay figures, not even bothering to get involved in a fight with them. There was only one target. They gradually closed distance when another boisterous explosion shook the sand underneath his feet off and threw him up into the air.

He might've lost consciousness for a few seconds, he wasn't sure. When he opened his eyes, he was lying on his back, his vision a little blurry. He wiggled his toes, twitched with his fingers. Good, everything was where it belonged. The bastard must've hid a bomb underneath the ground.

He groaned as he watched Deidara approach with light steps. The feet halted next to his head and when he looked up, the boy wore a playful smile on his lips. He lifted his foot and pressed it against Naruto's head, shifting some of his weight onto his skull. Naruto could feel the blood-clotted sand grind against his raw skin.

"You finally done?" Deidara mocked. "You're lucky I'm not here to kill you or this would've been over long ago."

Naruto coughed, watched the blood splatter from his mouth against the shoe sole, and drip back onto his face. He tried to speak, but he couldn't gather enough air in his lungs to do even that. It took him a few attempts until he managed to croak, "You needed me alive?" He chuckled. "Well, that backfired."

Hurriedly, the foot was lifted off his forehead. For a second, he came close to blacking out, but when his vision cleared, he saw Deidara crouch down with a worried expression on his face.

"Shit! Don't die on me yet, you little brat! I'll be in one hell of a trouble if you kick the bucket, yeah!"

Two fingers were pressed against his neck, checking his pulse. The sleeve slid up, revealing the skinny wrist underneath. With one flick of his arm, Naruto grabbed it and activated the seal.

He barely had the chance to turn around and pull his arm away before the explosion went off.

Smoke filled the air. Naruto could smell its bitter tint mixed with the foul stench of burning flesh. Was it his flesh? He couldn't tell, his body was oddly numb.

He had to get out of here. When he opened his eyes to gather his surroundings, they burned so much that they teared up. He forced them to remain open but there was only gray smoke enveloping him and clouding his vision. The ringing in his ears robbed him of all sense of direction he might've had.

He pressed himself against the ground. His sense of touch was all he had left. While he forced himself to turn on his stomach and stem himself up, the pangs gradually returned. Gripping the hot sand with his hands, he compelled himself to crawl forward.

Although he couldn't have progressed for more than a few feet, fatigue soon made him collapse. He coughed and the metallic taste on the back of his throat told him that he was still hacking blood out. Gritting his teeth, he stretched his arms out, buried his fingers in the sand and pulled himself forward, his chest and stomach dragging against the heated ground.

Eventually, the numbness dissipated entirely and made room for an all consuming wave of pain that multiplied with every passing second. It was torture and if Naruto hadn't had the experience from accidently blowing himself up while practising his seals before, he might've gone crazy.

Suddenly, blissfully cool hands grabbed his wrists and pulled him out of the fumes. Never had oxygen been so delicious before.

When he could finally use his eyes again, he saw Gaara concernedly checking his injuries. Naruto followed his gaze. His clothes were destroyed almost completely and gave access to the burned, bleeding flesh underneath. His right ankle and wrist looked misshapen, probably broken. His back felt as if had been flayed.

"I'll live."

"We have to get medical attention," Gaara said lowly. Naruto could see the pure fear in his eyes.

"I'm okay."

"No, you aren't."

Naruto ignored him. "Is the puppeteer finished?" Aside from looking distraught, his friend didn't seem to be in a bad shape.

"Yes, he's dead. What happened?"

Naruto wanted to shrug but he could only flinch when he tried to move his shoulders. Clavicle was probably broken, too. "We have to get rid of those mouths in his palms. I wanted to fix an explosion tag and blow his arm off, but I couldn't get close."

Gaara stiffened up. "Naruto." He took a deep breath. "What did you do?"

"He played dead and blew himself up along with me."

Slowly, the smoke dissipated into the night air, leaving Deidara standing in the ditch that the impact had dug. With squeamish satisfaction, Naruto watched blood trickle down from the stump where once his hand had been.

Deidara laughed. "You've got an understanding for the fine arts, fox. I'd like to have met you under different circumstances." He smiled. "Don't worry. After we're done with you, I will honour your last moments with an explosion. It's a pity you won't be able to watch yourself implode, but it will beautiful, I promise. I will make you into a piece of art."

"Enough," Gaara grinded out and with a start, the sand shot up and attempted to swallow Deidara up.

The clay bird that'd been waiting patiently for its master's command flew by and caught Deidara who'd jumped up to evade the sand. Only the undamaged arm was caught in Gaara's attack and squashed up until the blood painted the sand red.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Unless he pulls another trick out of his ass, we should be good."

"That doesn't seem too unlikely," Gaara commented cautiously.

They watched the bird fly high only to turn around and steer towards them. "What is he doing?" Naruto worried.

Gaara didn't answer and used the sand to build up a thick protection wall between them and the bird. There was silence. Naruto noticed that they couldn't even hear the birds' wings slap against the wind anymore. It was eerie, especially after the series of noisy explosions that'd just occurred.

Gaara's looked as uneasy as Naruto was feeling. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, a shiver ran down his spine. An innate instinct told him that something was about to happen.

He didn't even catch white spiders digging their way through the sand. The last thing he saw was Gaara shoving him backwards, away from the wall. Then, there was darkness.

When he woke up, he was in a sewer.

 **.**

 **A/N: Lmao where'd we start, where'd we end up? I know I let you wait but hey, I came back with 8k words!**

 **So how did you like it? I was getting real Gaara/Naruto bromance feels, you guys.  
By the way, just want to assure that I didn't pull Naruto's disguise techniques completely out of my ass. Bleaching with lemon juice/dyeing with coffee/changing body odour really works.  
However, I was **_**really**_ **struggling with the action scenes. I can't write an engaging fight to save my life but I feel like this honestly might be my best attempt at it (yeah, the rest of my fight scenes are even worse trash). Anyway, if you got any suggestions on how to do it better, they're very welcome!**

 **Let me know what you thought about this chapter! The next one's going to introduce us to someone the last sentence has hinted towards. Hope you're looking forward to it :D**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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